Transferring insurance policies

ABSTRACT

A server may receive from a trading system information on an insurance policy, in which the information may include privacy related information. The server may compare the privacy related information to at least one predefined characteristic and determine that there is a match between the privacy related information and the characteristic. Based at least in part on there being a match, the server may filter-out the insurance policy such that the information on the insurance policy is not provided to a workstation in use by a participant. Alternatively, the server may determine that there is not a match between the privacy related information and the characteristic and provide the information, minus the privacy related information, to the workstation.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.12/118,597, filed May 9, 2008, entitled “Transferring InsurancePolicies,” which is hereby incorporated by reference herein in itsentirety.

BACKGROUND

This application relates to transfer systems and in particular, to thetransferring of insurance policies.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

FIG. 1 shows an auction/trading system according to an embodiment of theinvention.

FIG. 2 shows an example graphical display/interface according to anembodiment of the invention.

FIG. 3A and FIG. 3B show another example graphical display/interfaceaccording to an embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 4 shows a further example graphical display/interface according toan embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 5 shows another example graphical display/interface according to anembodiment of the invention.

FIG. 6A and FIG. 6B show a further example graphical display/interfaceaccording to an embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 7 shows another auction/trading system according to an embodimentof the invention.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

According to an embodiment of the invention, an apparatus may include atleast one computing device having instructions associated therewith thatwhen executed by the at least one computing device make the at least onecomputing device operable to: receive from a participant a request toobtain information on insurance policies that match at least onecriteria; forward the request to a server; receive from the serverinformation on at least one insurance policy that matched the at leastone criteria, in which the information on the at least one insurancepolicy may include first information and second information; compare thesecond information on the at least one insurance policy to at least onepredefined characteristic; determine that there is a match between thesecond information and the at least one predefined characteristic; basedat least in part on determining that there is the match between thesecond information and the at least one predefined characteristic,filter-out the at least one insurance policy such that the informationon the at least one insurance policy is not provided to the participant;determine that there is not a match between the second information andthe at least one predefined characteristic; and based at least in parton determining that there is not the match between the secondinformation and the at least one predefined characteristic, provide thefirst information but not the second information on the at least oneinsurance policy to the participant.

In one aspect, the at least one predefined characteristic may include anidentity of a possible insured, and in which to determine that there isthe match between the second information and the at least one predefinedcharacteristic may include to determine that an insured of the at leastone insurance policy matches the identity of the possible insured. Inanother aspect, the at least one predefined characteristic may includean identity of a possible owner of insurance policies, and in which todetermine that there is a match between the second information and theat least one predefined characteristic may include to determine that anowner of the at least one insurance policy matches the identity of thepossible owner of insurance policies. In a further aspect, the at leastone predefined characteristic may include an identity of an individual,and in which to determine that there is a match between the secondinformation and the at least one predefined characteristic may includeto determine that an insured of the at least one insurance policy isrelated to the individual.

In one aspect, the first information may include information accessibleto the participant even though the participant may not own the at leastone insurance policy, and the second information may include informationnot accessible to the participant unless the participant owns the atleast one insurance policy.

According to an embodiment of the invention, an apparatus may include atleast one computing device having instructions associated therewith thatwhen executed by the at least one computing device make the at least onecomputing device operable to: receive from a server information on atleast one insurance policy, in which the information on the at least oneinsurance policy may include first information and second information;compare the second information on the at least one insurance policy toat least one predefined characteristic; determine that there is a matchbetween the second information and the at least one predefinedcharacteristic; based at least in part on determining that there is thematch between the second information and the at least one predefinedcharacteristic, filter-out the at least one insurance policy such thatthe information on the at least one insurance policy is not communicatedto a workstation in use by a participant; determine that there is not amatch between the second information and the at least one predefinedcharacteristic; and based at least in part on determining that there isnot the match between the second information and the at least onepredefined characteristic, communicate the first information but not thesecond information to the workstation.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

A life insurance policy is a contract in which an issuer/insurancecompany may agree to make a monetary payment(s) (e.g., a death benefitor insurance proceeds) to a designated beneficiary(s) upon the death ofa person(s) named in the policy (i.e., the insured), which person may ormay not also be the policy owner/holder. In exchange, the policy ownermay pay a regularly scheduled fee/payment (e.g., a premium payment) tothe insurance company. When the insured dies, the insurance company maypay the death benefit to the beneficiary(s).

As used herein, the term insurance company(s) may refer to any entity(s)that issues any insurance policy. Such an entity may, for example, setcertain guidelines for the payment terms of premiums.

Accordingly, a life insurance policy may include one or more of severalfeatures, including:

-   1. A death benefit (e.g., a predetermined amount of payment such as    $1,000,000);-   2. A beneficiary, which may be a person and/or entity that is    entitled to receive the death benefit;-   3. An insured individual upon whose death the death benefit is    payable to the beneficiary;-   4. A policy owner or holder, which may be a person or entity and    which may or may not be the insured individual; and-   5. A premium payment, which is a payment amount the policy owner may    be obligated to pay (e.g., periodically) to the insurance company    during a period of insurance coverage in exchange for the right to    have the death benefit paid to the beneficiary.

One skilled in the art will recognize that a life insurance policy mayinclude various other features and structures than those discussedabove. For example, a life insurance policy may include aninvestment/savings component (e.g., a cash value account), whichaccumulates a cash value over time. The policy owner may be able toaccess the cash value by making withdrawals from the cash value orborrowing against the cash value. The policy owner may also be able toaccess the cash value by terminating the life insurance policy (e.g.,ending the period of insurance coverage, ending the obligation to havepayments made, ending the right to have the death benefit paid to thebeneficiary). The amount paid to the policy owner for terminating thelife insurance policy may be referred to as the cash surrender value,which may be the cash value or a value less than the cash value (e.g.,due to surrender charges, due to the policy owner having madewithdrawals, etc).

Types of life insurance policies may include, for example, aterm/temporary life insurance policy and a permanent life insurancepolicy, types of which may include, for example, a whole life insurancepolicy and a universal life insurance policy.

A term life insurance policy is a policy, for example, that provides astated death benefit upon the death of the insured individual, providedthat the death occurs within a specific time period (e.g., anytimebefore a predetermined date, anytime before the insured reaches apredetermined age, etc.). The policy may not provide any other returns(e.g., a savings component) beyond the stated death benefit.

A permanent life insurance policy is a policy, for example, thatprovides for insurance coverage for the life of the insured individual.Accordingly, under such a policy, upon the inevitable death of theinsured individual a death benefit may be made to the policy'sbeneficiary(s). A permanent life insurance policy may also include aninvestment/savings component.

A policy owner, in various fashions, may terminate his interest in aninsurance policy. For example, as discussed above, a life insurancepolicy may include a cash surrender value. When a policy includes such afeature, a policy owner may terminate the policy early (e.g., prior tothe death of the insured individual) in exchange for the insurancecompany making a payment (e.g., the cash surrender value) to the policyowner. However, the true value of an insurance policy may not equate tothe cash surrender value as set forth in the policy.

As an alternative to terminating the policy with the insurance company,a policy owner may also sell the insurance policy to a third party,which may be a person(s) and/or entity(s), for example, the policy ownerand third party thereby entering into an agreement. Such a transactionmay be referred to as a life settlement transaction and the agreementreferred to as a life settlement agreement. Generally, in a lifesettlement transaction, the insured individual may not have a knownlife-threatening or terminal illness or condition. A particular form orsubset of life settlements are viatical settlements. A viaticalsettlement transaction is the sale of a life insurance policy to a thirdparty when the insured is terminally ill (e.g., having a life expectancyof less than two years). Hereinafter, the term life settlement/lifesettlement transaction/life settlement agreement will be used to referto both life settlements and viatical settlements and more generally, toany other type of settlement regarding the sale, assignment, transfer,devise, lease, bequest, etc. of the ownership of and/or beneficialinterest in, or any portion thereof, any insurance policy, possibly forcompensation.

In particular, in a life settlement transaction the policy owner maytransfer/sell, for example, an insurance policy to a third party inexchange for something of value, such as a monetary payment, from thethird party. The third party may then become the new owner of, or gainentitlement to, the life insurance policy and in particular, may gainrights to the beneficial interest in the policy (e.g., the third partymay become the beneficiary, although other structures may be used),collecting, for example, the entire death benefit of the policy upon thedeath of the insured individual. Accordingly, the third party may assumeall the responsibilities set forth in the insurance policy for the“owner,” including for example, being responsible for all future premiumpayments to the insurance company. Accordingly, when a life settlementtransaction occurs, the insurance company is not relieved from itsobligation to pay the death benefit to a beneficiary(s) upon the deathof the insured individual.

In general, one or more brokers may facilitate (for a transaction fee,for example) the life settlement transaction between a policy owner anda third party purchaser.

As an example of a life settlement transaction between twoparties/entities (e.g., a “Person A” such as a policy owner and a“Person B” such as a purchaser), Person A may apply with an insurancecompany for a policy to insure an insured individual (such as Person A).The insurance company may determine (e.g., based on the life expectancyof the insured individual) a monthly premium payment for the policy. Inturn, the policy may designate a death benefit that is payable to anamed beneficiary(s) upon the death of the insured individual. AssumingPerson A purchases the policy, after a period of time Person A maydecide to terminate or sell the policy prior to the death of the insuredindividual.

Assuming the policy includes a cash surrender value, the insurancecompany may make, for example, a monetary payment to Person A inaccordance with the surrender value in exchange for Person A terminatingthe policy. Assuming Person A accepts the offer, the insurance companyis relieved from its obligation to pay the death benefit to thebeneficiary(s) upon the death of the insured individual.

As an alternative, Person A may decide to sell the insurance policy (ora portion thereof) to Person B, thereby entering into a life settlementagreement with Person B. Again, one or more brokers may facilitate thelife settlement transaction between Person A and Person B. Here, PersonB may offer to pay Person A a monetary sum, possibly greater than thecash surrender value, in exchange for becoming the policy owner andobtaining an interest in/right to the beneficial interest of the policy.If Person A accepts the offer, Person B may pay the monetary sum(possibly less any broker fees) to Person A. In turn, Person A maytransfer ownership of the policy to Person B, for example, includingassigning/transferring/changing, for example, the beneficial interest ofthe insurance policy to Person B, for example. Person B, in turn, mayassume the responsibilities of Person A as set forth in the terms of thepolicy, including being obligated to pay any monthly premiums.Accordingly, the insurance company is not relieved from its obligationto pay the death benefit to the beneficiary(s) (here, Person B, forexample) upon the death of the insured individual. In particular, uponthe death of the insured individual, the insurance company may pay thedeath benefit to Person B, for example.

Assuming Person A and Person B enter into a life settlement agreement,the new policy owner, Person B, may further transfer/sell, for example,the life insurance policy (i.e., transfer/sell the life settlementcontract), or a portion thereof, to another person(s)/entity(s), such asPerson C. Again, one or more brokers may facilitate the sale of the lifeinsurance policy between Person B and Person C. Here, Person C may offerto pay Person B a monetary sum (possibly greater than or less than theinitial amount paid to Person A by Person B and/or possibly greater thanthe cash surrender value) in exchange for becoming the policy owner andobtaining an interest in/right to the beneficial interest of the policy.If Person B accepts the offer, Person C may pay the monetary sum(possibly less any broker fees) to Person B. In turn, Person B maytransfer ownership of the policy to Person C, for example, includingassigning/transferring/changing, for example, the beneficial interest ofthe insurance policy to Person C, for example. Person C, in turn, mayassume the responsibilities of Person B, including being obligated topay any monthly premiums to the insurance company. Accordingly, upon thedeath of the insured individual, the insurance company may pay the deathbenefit to Person C, for example. As one skilled in the art willrecognize, Person C may then also resell the insurance policy prior tothe death of the insured individual, etc.

According to embodiments of the invention, an electronic trading systemmay be provided that allows, for example, for the transferring (e.g.,the trading, auctioning, assigning, buying/selling/reselling, etc.) ofinsurance policies. In particular, such a system may allow an originalpolicy owner to initially transfer or sell a life insurance policy. Sucha transfer may result in a life settlement agreement (or similarly, aviatical settlement agreement). Hereinafter, a policy that is beingtransferred or has been transferred for the first time may be referredto as a “life settlement policy” (again, which may include either a lifesettlement or viatical settlement) and such a transaction may bereferred to as a “primary” or “first time” transaction, transfer, orsale, etc. Alternatively and/or in addition, such a system may allow asecondary or subsequent owner of a life insurance policy to retransferor resell, for example, the insurance policy. Hereinafter, a policy thatis being transferred or has been transferred at least a second time maybe referred to as a “resale policy” and any such transaction may ingeneral be referred to as a “secondary” transaction, transfer, or sale,etc. Hereinafter, reference to the transfer, transferring, sell, sale,selling, resell, reselling, buy, buying, assign, assigning, auctioning,purchase, purchasing, etc. of a “life insurance policy(s)”, “insurancepolicy(s)”, or “policy(s)” may refer to either the transferring of alife settlement policy(s), resale policy(s), or both and in addition,may generally refer to a transfer in ownership of and/or entitlement toa life insurance policy (or a portion thereof), and a transfer in aninterest in/right to the beneficial interest of the policy (or a portionthereof). In addition, reference to the transfer or transferring of alife insurance policy may generally refer to any other type of transferin ownership of and/or entitlement to the life insurance policy (or aportion thereof), and a transfer in an interest in/right to thebeneficial interest of the policy (or a portion thereof), including asale, purchase, assignment, devise, lease, bequest, etc.

As an example, U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/613,182 (U.S. PatentApplication Publication No. 2007/0226015), filed Dec. 19, 2006, entitled“Products and Processes For Processing Information in a Market for LifeInstruments,” by Howard W. Lutnick and Stuart Hersch, and the contentsof which are hereby incorporated by reference in their entirety,discloses an electronic trading system in which life settlement policiesand resale polices may be transferred.

Referring now to FIG. 1 there is shown an electronic trading system 100according to an embodiment of the invention for transferring lifesettlement policies and/or resale policies. In particular, system 100may support the auctioning of life settlement and/or resale policies inwhich the owners of such policies may list these policies for sale viasystem 100 and in which potential buyers may bid on the listed policiesvia system 100. Nonetheless, one skilled in the art will recognize thatsystem 100 may provide other formats including, for example, (a) areverse auction format where a potential buyer of life insurancepolicies may specify criteria, for example, of a desired policy topurchase, and owners of life insurance policies may submit quotes atwhich they are willing to sell a policy that meets the criteria; (b) anadvertising format where owners of life insurance policies may listpolicies for sale at set prices and where potential buyers may submitindications to purchase the policies at the set prices; (c) a bid/offerformat where potential buyers and sellers of life insurance policies maysubmit bids/offers for policies and in which the system may auto-matchbids/offers and/or in which buyers and sellers may submit hits/takes ofthe bids/offers, etc. Again, one skilled in the art will recognize thatsystem 100 may support other formats for “transferring” life insurancepolicies. For purposes of description, system 100 will described as anauction system for the buying and selling of life insurance policies.

As shown in FIG. 1, system 100 may include at least one server 104, oneof more workstations 101 connected to server 104 either directly orthrough a communications network 102, and a back office clearing center112 connected to server 104 either directly or through a communicationsnetwork 110. Server 104 may control/oversee the auctioning of insurancepolicies including, for example,

-   1. the receiving from insurance policy owners (initial and/or    secondary), for example, insurance policies to be listed for    auction;-   2. the receiving from potential buyers of insurance policies bids on    listed policies being auctioned;-   3. the searching and sorting of insurance policies that will be    auctioned, are currently being auctioned, and/or that have been    auctioned;-   4. the managing of and/or the providing of access to information    related to insurance policies including, for example, insurance    policies that will be auctioned, are currently being auctioned,    and/or that have been auctioned;-   5. the providing of status information (e.g., time left in the    auction, etc.) on policies that are being auctioned;-   6. the providing of status information on bids (e.g., current high    bid, etc.) submitted on policies that are being auctioned; and-   7. the processing of submitted bids to:    -   a) determine winning/losing bids, for example, thereby        transacting the purchase and sale of policies;    -   b) determine policies that failed to sell (e.g., because a        reserve price was not reached);    -   c) provide confirmations to sellers and buyers when policies        have sold and at what price, etc.; and    -   d) provide notifications to sellers of policies that failed to        sell and indications to potential buyers of losing bids.

Workstations 101 may provide users/participants (e.g., buyers andsellers of insurance policies) of system 100 access to the system andmay, for example, allow participants to:

-   1. submit to server 104 life insurance polices (and information    related thereto) to be listed for sale/auction;-   2. cancel life insurance polices that have been be listed for    sale/auction;-   3. submit/modify/cancel bids on insurance policies that are or will    be auctioned;-   4. submit search and/or sort requests on insurance policies that    will be auctioned, are currently being auctioned, and/or that have    been auctioned;-   5. request and/or review (e.g., through visual and/or audible    output) information related to insurance policies including, for    example, insurance policies that will be auctioned, are currently    being auctioned, and/or that have been auctioned;-   6. request and/or review (e.g., through visual and/or audible    output) status information on policies that are being auctioned;-   7. request and/or review (e.g., through visual and/or audible    output) status information on bids submitted on policies that are    being auctioned;-   8. obtain confirmations on successfully sold and/or purchased    policies and at what price; and-   9. obtain notification on policies that failed to sell and/or on    losing bids, etc.

Back office clearing center 112 may, at least in part, assist in, cause,and/or provide functions related to clearing a purchased policy once awinning bid has been determined and/or verifying that a purchased policyis cleared. The clearing of a purchased policy may include, for example,the receiving of monetary funds (e.g., equal to the winning bid amount)from the buyer of the insurance policy and the sending of such funds, atleast in part, to the seller of the policy, for example, and/or thetransferring of a portion of such funds to any brokers, for example,and/or to system 100 (e.g. a service fee). Similarly, the clearing of apurchased policy may include, for example, the transferring of monetaryfunds from an account of a buyer of the insurance policy to the accountof the seller of the policy, for example, and/or the transferring of aportion of such funds to an account of any broker, for example, and/orto an account associated with system 100 (e.g. a service fee). Backoffice clearing center 112 may, at least in part, assist inreceiving/sending/transferring of such funds. The clearing of apurchased policy may also include the preparation and/or execution of alife settlement agreement in the case of a first time sale of a policyand/or may include the preparation and/or execution of an agreement(s)for the transferring/changing of the ownership of the policy and/or thebeneficial interest in the policy. Such agreements may involve thebuyer, seller, and insurance company (e.g., the insurance company mayneed to be notified of any changes in ownership and the beneficiary).Back office clearing center 112 may, at least in part, assist intransferring and/or executing such agreements.

Server 104, workstations 101, and back off clearing center 112 mayprovide additional features and functions than those described above andas further discussed herein and alternatively, may not provide all thefeatures and functions described above and as further discussed herein.In addition, various workstations within system 100, for example, maynot all provide all the same features and functions.

One skilled in the art will recognize that while system 100 may bedescribed above and further herein as having certain features andfunctions being performed by server 104, workstations 101, and backoffice clearing center 112, the disclosed features and functions may beperformed by other elements of the system or combinations thereof. Forexample, functions/features that are described as being performed byback office clearing center 112 may at least in part be performed byserver 104. Alternatively, system 100 may not include a back officeclearing center 112 and all functions/features may be performed by, forexample, server 104. As another example, functions/features that aredescribed as being performed by server 104 may at least in part beperformed by workstations 101, such as in the case of a partiallydistributed system. Alternatively, system 100 may not include a server104 and all functions/features may be performed by workstations 101,such as in the case of a fully distributed system.

The users/participants of system 100 may include, for example, thesellers of life insurance polices that may interact with system 100 viaworkstations 101, and the buyers of life insurance policies that mayalso interact with system 100 via workstations 101. The sellers of lifeinsurance policies (i.e., the user/participants that may useworkstations 101) may include the actual policy owners or alternatively,agents thereof including, for example, brokers. For example, in the caseof a life settlement policy (i.e., the initial sale of a policy), alicensed broker may be required to interact with system 100 on behalf ofthe policy owner, performing the actual sale of the policy. Similarly,the buyers of insurance policies (i.e., the user/participants that mayuse workstations 101) may include the actual entities/individuals thatwill obtain ownership of (or entitlement to) the purchased policies oralternatively, agents thereof including, for example, brokers. Theowners of insurance policies seeking to sell such policies may include,for example, individuals, entities (for example, a company, aninvestment fund), or combinations thereof and in particular, may includethe initial and/or any secondary policy owner. Similarly, the actualpurchasers of policies may include, for example, individuals, entities(for example, a company, an investment fund), or combinations thereof.Other users of system 100 may include, for example, a systemadministrator(s) and/or customer representative(s) associated withserver 104 and/or clearing center 112.

According to various embodiments of the invention, in addition to, oralternatively to, an user/participant utilizing a workstation 101 tointeract with system 100/server 104 to buy and sell insurance policies,a workstation 101 (or a system interfaced to a workstation 101) may beautomated to interact with server 104 to buy and sell insurancepolicies, at least in part. For example, a workstation 101 may beprogrammed to monitor bids on a given policy and to automatically submitnew bids to server 104. Alternatively and/or in addition, server 104 maybe operable to buy and sell insurance policies, at least in part, onbehalf of buyers and sellers. For example, based on instructionsreceived from a buyer via a workstation 101, server 104 may beprogrammed to monitor bids, including the highest submitted bids, onbehalf of a buyer and automatically increase a buyer's bid when thehighest submitted bid surpasses the buyer's bid.

Hereinafter, the terms “user,” “participant,” “seller participant,”“seller,” “buyer participant,” and “buyer” will be used to refer to anyindividual (e.g., actual owner of a policy, actual purchaser of apolicy, agent thereof, a broker thereof, etc.) that may utilize aworkstation 101 to interact with system 100 to at least view, transfer,buy, and/or sell policies and in addition, any automated system that mayutilize system 100, a least in part, to at least view, transfer, buy,and/or sell policies.

According to an embodiment of the invention, when an agent, for examplea broker, uses system 100 on behalf of an actual owner (and therebyseller) and/or actual purchaser of an insurance policy, the broker mayreceive a fee, including a flat fee or a percentage fee (such as apercentage of the sale price), or a combination thereof. Similarly,system 100 (e.g., an operator/owner thereof or an operator/owner ofserver 104) may receive a fee, including a flat fee or a percentage fee(such as a percentage of the sale price) for listing and/or facilitatingin the sale of an insurance policy.

Referring now more specifically to server 104, the server may be anygeneral purpose or special purpose computing device and in particular,may be any suitable server, processor, computer, mainframe computer,computing device, data processing device, and/or any combinationthereof. As shown in FIG. 1, server 104 may include one or moreprocessors 111, a memory 114, and one or more applications 116, whichmay be operable to control/oversee the auctioning of insurance policiesas briefly discussed above, for example, and as further disclosedherein. Applications 116 may be embodied as computing instructionsincluding, for example, one or more software modules that reside inmemory 114 and execute there from on processor 111 and/or one or morefirmware and/or hardware modules. Server 104 may also include one ormore communications modules 118 for interfacing with and communicatingover communications network(s) 102 and/or 110 (and possibly othercommunications networks not shown) and for transmitting and/or receivinginformation to/from workstations 101. Server 104 may also include acomputer readable medium 115 (e.g., disk drive) for storing applications116, for example.

Server 104 may also include at least one output device 117 and at leastone input device 113, which devices may be used for example, by anadministrator. Example output devices 117 may include at least onedisplay, such as a CRT (cathode ray tube) or an LCD (liquid crystaldisplay) monitor, one or more LEDs (light-emitting diodes), and at leastone audio output (e.g., a speaker). Example input devices 113 mayinclude a mouse, a touch-sensitive pad, a pointer, a stylus, atrackball, a hard button, a keypad and/or keyboard with one or more keysrepresenting alphanumeric characters, a wheel, a touch-sensitivemonitor, and/or an audio input (e.g., a microphone). Server 104 may alsoinclude at least one biometric input device 119 for entering biometricinformation, such as a fingerprint, to gain access to server 104.

While server 104 is shown as a single server, one skilled in the artwill recognize that server 104 may include a plurality (e.g., at leasttwo) of servers, including redundant/backup servers. According to anembodiment of the invention, server 104 may, at least in part, be a webserver, such as an http (hypertext transfer protocol) web server.

Referring now more specifically to workstations 101, a workstation maybe any general purpose or special purpose computing device including,for a example, a mobile/cellular/portable phone, a PDA (personal digitalassistant), a pocket PC (personal computer), a computer, a computingdevice, a data processing device, a personal computing device, a laptopcomputer, a mainframe computer, a dumb terminal, a display device, apager, or any other device or combination thereof configured and/oroperable to allow users/participants access to system 100, includingserver 104, and in general to allow seller and/or buyer participants, incombination with server 104, to sell and buy insurance policies and/orto request and/or to review information related thereto. As indicatedabove, any given workstation 101 of system 100 may not provide all thefeatures and functions disclosed herein and different workstations mayprovide different features and functions. According to an embodiment ofthe invention, system 100 may include different types of workstations101. One skilled in the art will recognize that other types ofworkstations are possible.

According to an embodiment of the invention, a workstation 101 may be astationary device or a device tethered to a stationary object and may becollocated with server 104 or may be located in a remote location fromserver 104. Alternatively, a workstation may be a mobile device that mayor may not need to be co-located with server 104.

Referring again to FIG. 1, a workstation 101 may include one or moreprocessors 108, a memory 131, and one or more applications 109 that mayoperate in conjunction with applications 116 to provide one or morefeatures and functions disclosed herein. Applications 109 may beembodied as computing instructions including, for example, one or moresoftware modules that reside in memory 131 and execute there from onprocessor 108 and/or one or more firmware and/or hardware modules. Whenapplications 109 are embodied as one or more software modules, thesesoftware modules may pre-loaded on the workstation, stored on a computerreadable medium 130 (e.g., a disk), for example, and thereafter usedrepeatedly. Alternatively or in addition, each time a participant uses aworkstation 101 to interact with system 100 and in particular server104, for example, an application 109 may be loaded from server 104 or aserver related thereto, for example (e.g., as web applications), to atleast provide the requested feature/function. One skilled in the artwill recognize that other configurations are possible. According to anembodiment of the invention, a workstation 101 may, at least in part,operate as a web client (e.g., include a Web browser).

According to an embodiment of the invention, a workstation may alsoinclude one or more communications modules 105 for interfacing with andcommunicating over communications network(s) 102 (and possibly othercommunications networks not shown) and for transmitting and/or receivinginformation to/from server 104. A workstation 101 may also include atleast one output device 106 for conveying to a participant informationas disclosed above and further herein including, for example,information related to insurance policies, status information onpolicies that are being auctioned, status information on bids submittedon policies that are being auctioned, status information related topolices that have been successfully sold and/or purchased, etc. Exampleoutput devices 106 may include at least one display, such as a CRT or anLCD monitor, one or more LEDs (light-emitting diodes), and at least oneaudio output (e.g., a speaker). A workstation 101 may also include atleast one input device 103 that allows a participant to submit to system100/server 104 information as disclosed above and further hereinincluding, for example, life insurance polices (and information relatedthereto) to be listed for sale, bids on insurance policies beingauctioned, search and/or sort requests, requests for informationincluding status information related to insurance policies and/orsubmitted bids, etc. Example input devices 103 may include a mouse, atouch-sensitive pad, a pointer, a stylus, a trackball, a hard button, akeypad and/or keyboard with one or more keys representing alphanumericcharacters, a wheel, a touch-sensitive monitor, and/or an audio input(e.g., a microphone). A workstation 101 may also include at least onebiometric input device 107 for entering biometric information, such as afingerprint, to gain access to system 100.

As indicated, the features and functions disclosed herein may beprovided through a combination of applications 109 executing onworkstations 101 and applications 116 executing on server 104, forexample. One skilled in the art will recognize that any portion of anyfeature or function disclosed herein may execute on server 104 andworkstations 101. For example, according to an embodiment of theinvention, a feature or function may execute on the server with aworkstation merely presenting information to and receiving inputs from aparticipant. According to another embodiment of the invention, a featureor function may execute on a workstation, which in turn may presentresults to the server. One skilled in the art will recognize that othervariations are possible.

Referring now more specifically to back office clearing center 112, theclearing center may be any general purpose or special purpose computingdevice and in particular, may be any suitable server, processor,computer, mainframe computer, computing device, data processing device,personal computing device, laptop computer, etc. and/or any combinationthereof. As shown in FIG. 1, back office clearing center 112 may includeone or more processors 121, a memory 124, and one or more applications126, which may be operable to assist in, cause, and/or provide functionsrelated to the clearing of a purchased policy and/or the verifying thata purchased policy is cleared as briefly discussed above, for example,and as further disclosed herein. Applications 126 may be embodied ascomputing instructions including, for example, one or more softwaremodules that reside in memory 124 and execute there from on processor121 and/or one or more firmware and/or hardware modules. Back officeclearing center 112 may also include one or more communications modules128 for interfacing with and communicating over communicationsnetwork(s) 110 (and possibly other communications networks not shown)and for transmitting and/or receiving information to/from server 104.Back office clearing center 112 may also include a computer readablemedium 125 (e.g., disk drive) for storing applications 126, for example.

Back office clearing center 112 may also include at least one outputdevice 127 and at least one input device 123, which devices may be usedfor example, by an administrator. Example output devices 127 may includeat least one display, such as a CRT or an LCD monitor, one or more LEDs,and at least one audio output (e.g., a speaker). Example input devices123 may include a mouse, a touch-sensitive pad, a pointer, a stylus, atrackball, a hard button, a keypad and/or keyboard with one or more keysrepresenting alphanumeric characters, a wheel, a touch-sensitivemonitor, and/or an audio input (e.g., a microphone). Back officeclearing center 112 may also include at least one biometric input device139 for entering biometric information, such as a fingerprint, to gainaccess to back office clearing center 112.

While back office clearing center 112 is shown as a singledevice/server, one skilled in the art will recognize that back officeclearing center 112 may include a plurality of devices/servers,including redundant/backup device/servers.

Referring now more specifically to communications network 102, accordingto an embodiment of the invention, this network provides a mechanism forworkstations 101 and server 104 to communicate and exchange informationas disclosed herein. Example information may include the loading ofapplications 109 to workstations 101 from server 104, securityinformation, such as logins and passwords for a participant to gainaccess to server 104 and conduct trades, and any graphical, textual,and/or audible representations of information, commands, options, andselections exchanged between workstations 101 from server 104. Oneskilled in the art will recognize that other information is possible.Accordingly, communications network 102 may be any network that allows,in whole or in part, for the transmission of graphical, textual, and/oraudible information, and for the transmission of information in anyformat including digital and/or analog format.

According to an embodiment of the invention, communications network 102may be a shared network through which a plurality of workstations 101communicate with server 104. According to an embodiment of theinvention, communications network 102 may include a plurality ofdifferent networks, which may or may not be interconnected and which mayor may not be based on different technologies. Server 104 may interfaceeach network individually and/or may interface one or more networksthrough a common access point. Different workstations may interfacedifferent networks. According to an embodiment of the invention,communications network 102 alternatively and/or in addition may include,at least in part, a direct connection between a given workstation 101and server 104. According to an embodiment of the invention,communications network 102 may be a private and/or public network, anddepending on the security needs of the information being exchangedbetween server 104 and workstations 101, may include, at least in part,the public Internet.

According to an embodiment of the invention, communications network 102may be based on any known and/or future technologies including, wirelesstechnologies, wireline technologies, fiber-optic technologies, etc. orany combinations thereof. Example wireless technologies may include, forexample, licensed or license-exempt technologies and in particular, mayinclude Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA), Global System for MobileCommunication (GSM), General Packet Radio Service (GPRS), WiFi(802.11x), WiMax (802.16x), and/or satellite-based technologies. Examplewireline technologies may include the Public Switched Telephone Network(PSTN), Digital Subscriber Line (DSL), Integrated Services DigitalNetwork (ISDN), cable modem technologies, and/or LAN (local areanetwork) based technologies. Other technologies may include frame relay,asynchronous transfer mode (ATM), a virtual private network (VPN). Oneskilled in the art will recognize that other technologies andcombinations of technologies may be used.

Referring now more specifically to communications network 110, accordingto an embodiment of the invention, this network provides a mechanism forback office clearing center 112 and server 104 to communicate andexchange information. Example information may include any informationnecessary for clearing center 112 to clear a trade, such as informationrelated to the policy that has been sold, the price, commissions,service fees, the buyer and seller, etc. One skilled in the art willrecognize that other information is possible. In general, communicationsnetwork 110 may be any network that allows, in whole or in part, for thetransmission of graphical, textual, and/or audible information, and forthe transmission of information in any format including digital and/oranalog format.

According to an embodiment of the invention, communications network 112and communications network 102 may or may not share common resources,and may or may not be interconnected. According to an embodiment of theinvention, communications network 110 and communications network 102 arethe same network. According to an embodiment of the invention,communications network 110 may include a plurality of differentnetworks, which may or may not be based on different technologies.According to an embodiment of the invention, communications network 110alternatively and/or in addition may include, at least in part, a directconnection between back office clearing center 112 and server 104.According to an embodiment of the invention, communications network 110may be a private and/or public network, and depending on the securityneeds of the information being exchanged between back office clearingcenter 112 and server 104, may include, at least in part, the publicInternet. According to an embodiment of the invention, communicationsnetwork 110 may be based on any known and/or future technologiesincluding, wireless technologies, wireline technologies, fiber-optictechnologies, etc. or any combinations thereof, as similarly describedfor communications network 102.

As shown in FIG. 1, system 100 may also include one or more databases,such as database 180, including possibly one or more redundant and/orbackup databases, that are accessible to at least server 104 andpossibly workstations 101 (either directly or via server 104) andpossibly back office clearing center 112 (either directly or via server104). The term “database” as used herein is not intended to limit howthe information maintained therein is stored and/or accessed. Forexample, database 180 may be a database management system separate fromor part of server 104, for example. Alternatively, database 180 mayreside within a computer readable medium (e.g., computer readable medium115) within server 104, for example, and information may be maintainedtherein by server 104 as flat files, for example. As another example,database 180 may be one or more dynamic data structures (e.g., arrays)within memory 114 of server 104, for example, and may be maintainedtherein by the server, for example. Alternatively, information may bemaintained using any combination of these implementations and otherimplementations.

According to an embodiment of the invention, database 180 may storeinformation and/or data related to life insurance policies, includinglife settlement policies and resale policies, and information and/ordata related to the sale/transfer of such policies, as further disclosedherein. For example, database 180 may maintain information and/or datarelated to:

-   1. Life insurance policies to be sold: According to an embodiment of    the invention, database 180 may maintain information related to life    settlement and resale policies that have been submitted to system    100/server 104 for auction/sale by, for example, a seller    participant via a workstation 101. According to an embodiment of the    invention, in the case of a resale policy submitted for sale, the    initial/primary sale of the policy and/or any other secondary sale    of the policy may have occurred, at least in part, outside system    100/server 104. Alternatively, the initial/primary sale of the    policy and any other secondary sale of the policy may have all    occurred via system 100/server 104. According to an embodiment of    the invention, life settlement and resale policies that have been    submitted to server 104 for sale may be considered to be in either a    pending state and/or an active/live state (One skilled in the art    will recognize that while policies may be described herein as being    in one of several states, fewer, additional, different and/or no    states may also be used).    -   a) Pending state: According to an embodiment of the invention, a        policy in the pending state may include a policy intended to be        auctioned but for which information must still be submitted        and/or obtained before the policy can be auctioned/offered for        sale to bidders. Such information may at least include that        information necessary for a potential buyer participant to        sufficiently evaluate the policy in order to determine a value        for the policy, such as a fair market value. For example, such        information may include, a copy of the policy, authorization        from the insured to use and/or disclose non-public personal        information and protected health information about the insured,        medical records of the insured, life expectancy report(s) on the        insured, an in-force illustration, verification of coverage,        etc. One skilled in the art will recognize that additional        information may be required before a policy may be        auctioned/offered for sale to bidders. According to an        embodiment of the invention, a policy in the pending state may        also include a policy for which all information has been        submitted and/or obtained but the policy is awaiting approval        before the policy can be auctioned/offered for sale to bidders.        For example, according to an embodiment of the invention, an        administrator of system 100/server 104, for example, may need to        approve a policy before the policy can be auctioned/offered for        sale to bidders. According to an embodiment of the invention, a        policy in the pending state may also include a policy that has        been approved and is ready to be auctioned/offered for sale to        bidders but the auction period (e.g., a period of time during        which the auction of the policy is in operation or in other        words, a period of time during which the policy may be actively        bidded on) has not begun.    -   b) Active/live state: According to an embodiment of the        invention, a policy in the active/live state may include a        policy for which the auction period is running and on which bids        are actively being made.-   2. Life Insurance Policies that were submitted for sale: According    to an embodiment of the invention, database 180 may also maintain    information related to life settlement and resale policies that were    actively auctioned/offered for sale via system 100/server 104 and    are now in a closed state.    -   a) Closed state: According to an embodiment of the invention, a        policy in the closed state may include a policy for which the        auction period expired/ended and for which:        -   the policy failed to successfully sell/trade because, for            example, a minimum bid/selling amount/price was never            obtained.        -   the policy successfully sold but failed to successfully            clear.        -   the policy sold and is still in the process of being            cleared.        -   the policy sold and successfully cleared.    -    According to an embodiment of the invention, a policy in the        closed state may also include a policy for which the auction        period expired/ended early because, for example, a desired        bid/sale price of the seller participant was obtained.-   3. Life Insurance Policies that were submitted for sale and    withdrawn: According to an embodiment of the invention, database 180    may also maintain information related to life settlement and resale    policies that were submitted to system 100/server 104 for    auction/sale and are now in a closed state because the policy was    withdrawn from auction/sale by the seller participant. For example,    according to an embodiment of the invention, the seller participant    may withdraw the policy from sale while the policy is in the pending    state, active/live state, and/or being cleared. According to an    embodiment of the invention, database 180 may also maintain    information related to life settlement and resale policies that were    submitted to system 100/server 104 for auction/sale and are now in a    closed state because the policy, while in the pending state, was    withdrawn from sale by an administrator, for example, and/or by    server 104, for example, because information necessary to sell the    policy was not obtained and/or the policy did not obtain approval    for sale.-   4. Life Insurance Policies submitted for information purposes:    According to an embodiment of the invention, database 180 may also    maintain information related to insurance policies, including life    settlement and resale policies, that were submitted to system    100/server 104 not for auction/sale but rather, were entered into    database 180 merely for informational purposes, as further disclosed    herein. Such policies may include, for example, policies that are    still being held by the initial policy owner and are not for sale,    policies that have been sold one or more times outside system 100,    and/or policies that are no longer active because, for example, the    term expired, the premium payments lapsed, the owner terminated the    policy by collecting the cash surrender value, etc.

One skilled in the art will recognize that database 180 may maintaininformation and/or data related to other types of insurance policiesthan those listed and discussed above.

According to various embodiments of the invention, the informationand/or data stored in database 180 for a given policy may include anyone or more various types of information, including for example thatlisted below (one skilled in the art will recognize that for a givenpolicy, database 180 may store other types of information in addition tothat discussed herein):

-   1. Information specific to the life insurance policy: According to    an embodiment of the invention, database 180 may maintain    information related to the structure of the insurance policy    including:    -   a) The type of life insurance policy: Database 180 may maintain        information on the type of the insurance policy including, for        example, an indication as to whether the policy is, for        example, (a) a term life insurance policy, (b) a convertible        term life insurance policy, (c) a permanent life insurance        policy, such as a whole life insurance policy, a universal life        insurance policy, variable universal life insurance policy, (d)        a permanent life insurance policy that has been converted (i.e.,        a converted term policy), (e) a second to die (joint) life        insurance policy such as a second to die universal life        insurance policy, etc. For a term life insurance policy and a        convertible term life insurance policy, database 180 may        maintain an indication of the term of the policy. For a        convertible term life insurance policy, database 180 may also        maintain, if applicable, an indication of a final conversion        option expiry date after which the policy is non-convertible, an        indication of a final conversion option expiry age (i.e., of the        insured) after which the policy is non-convertible and/or an        indication of a minimal age that the insured must be before the        policy can be converted, an indication of whether the policy has        an exclusion period in the early years of the policy during        which the convertible term policy is non-convertible. For a        permanent life insurance policy, database 180 may maintain, for        example, an indication of whether the policy was converted from        a term policy, the date of the conversation, and which owner        performed the conversion.    -   b) Face Value: Database 180 may maintain information on the face        value of the policy including for example, the face value of the        policy as written, the current face value as a result of        withdrawals against a cash account, etc.    -   c) Issuer: Database 180 may maintain information on the issuer        of the insurance policy (e.g., an insurance company) including,        for example, a name of the issuer, and possibly a current rating        of the creditworthiness of the issuer. For example, ratings may        be performed by and obtained from companies such as Standard &        Poor, Moody's Investors Service, etc.    -   d) Policy Number: Database 180 may maintain a policy number of a        policy as assigned by the issuer.    -   e) Universal identifier: Database 180 may maintain a unique        identifier for a given policy. The identifier may be a policy        number assigned by the issuer. The identifier may alternatively        and/or additionally be some other universal identifier (e.g., a        universal policy identifier, or UPID). Such a universal        identifier may be assigned, for example, to a given policy by        system 100/server 104 (and thereby unique, for example, to        system 100 and/or beyond), by an issuer when issuing a policy        (and thereby unique, for example, to the issuer and/or beyond),        by a governing entity. As another example, a single entity may        maintain and thereby provide such universal identifiers upon a        request from system 100/server 104, an issuer of the policy,        etc. As another example, such a universal identifier may be        formed from a set of rules, or universal rules, such that system        100/server 104, an issuer, etc. may be able to form the        universal identifier. For example, the universal identifier may        be a combination of a social security number and a policy        number. According to an embodiment of the invention, the        universal identifier may have a form such that each policy        associated with system 100 has such an identifier and may be        uniquely identified by and within system 100 by the identifier.        According to an embodiment of the invention, the identifier may        also have a form such that a buyer/seller participant in        general, for example, viewing the identifier may not be able to        determine the specific policy, insured, owner, and/or        beneficiaries, for example, associated with that policy without        having more information.    -   f) Issue date and state: Database 180 may maintain information        on the issue date of the policy and the associated state of        issuance.    -   g) The insured individual(s): Database 180 may maintain        information on the insured individual(s) of a policy as further        disclosed herein including, for example, information on the        primary insured individual and, if applicable, information on a        secondary inured individual (e.g., in the case of a second to        die insurance policy), etc.    -   h) Beneficiary(s): Database 180 may maintain information on the        beneficiary(s) of a policy as further disclosed herein.    -   i) Policy owner(s): Database 180 may maintain information on the        policy owner(s) of a policy as further disclosed herein.    -   j) Premium Payment: Database 180 may maintain information on the        premium payment including, for example, the current amount of        the premium payment, the structure of the premium payment (e.g.,        whether the payment is fixed or changing), the premium        frequency, and the next premium due date. Database 180 may also        maintain information related to whether the amount of the        premium payment has changed (e.g., as a result of converting the        policy or changing coverage) and if so, the pervious amount(s)        of the premium payment.    -   k) Cash Account: Database 180 may maintain, if applicable,        information related to a cash account associated with a policy        including, for example the current cash value of the account.    -   l) Death benefit: Database 180 may maintain information related        to the current amount of the death benefit including for        example, any reductions in the death benefit as a result of        withdrawals and/or loans against the cash account, if        applicable.    -   m) Cash Surrender Value: Database 180 may maintain information        related to the current cash surrender value of the policy.-   2. Information related to the insured of a life insurance policy:    According to an embodiment of the invention, database 180 may    maintain information related to the insured individual of a given    insurance policy as further disclosed below. One skilled in the art    will recognize that if the policy has more than one insured    individual (e.g., such as a joint or group policy), database 180 may    maintain such information for each individual.    -   a) Name: Database 180 may maintain the name (e.g., a first,        middle, and/or last name) of the insured individual including,        for example, a current name, any previous name that was changed        such as a maiden name, aliase(s), and/or a nickname(s), etc.    -   b) Demographics: Database 180 may maintain demographic        information associated with an individual including, for        example, ethnicity, religion, age, sex, current and past        citizenships, marital status (e.g., married, singled, divorced,        widowed, separated) etc.    -   c) Address: Database 180 may maintain the address (e.g., street        address, town, county, state, country, etc.) of the insured        individual including, for example, a primary residence, a        secondary residence, a mailing address, and/or any previous such        addresses.    -   d) Date of birth: Database 180 may maintain a date of birth of        the insured individual.    -   e) Place of birth: Database 180 may maintain a place of birth        (e.g., street address, town, county, state, country, etc.) of        the insured individual.    -   f) Contact information: Database 180 may maintain a phone number        of the insured individual including, for example, a current land        line number, a current VoIP number, a current cellular number, a        current work number, and/or any previous such numbers. Database        180 may also maintain an email address(s) of the insured        individual.    -   g) Identification Number: Database 180 may maintain an        identification number of the insured individual including, for        example, a social security number, current/past employee        identification numbers, driver's license number, etc. According        to an embodiment of the invention, database 180 may determine        and assign a unique identification number to an insured        individual. Such a number may have relevance only with system        100 or alternatively, beyond/outside system 100.    -   h) Health related information: Database 180 may maintain        information related to the insured individual's health        including, for example, current and past medical conditions.        Database 180 may maintain information related to the insured        individual's current and past doctors. Database 180 may maintain        information related to current and/or past smoking use by the        individual, current and/or past alcohol use by the individual,        etc.    -   i) Degrees: Database 180 may maintain information related to the        insured individual's education including, for example, degrees        held, professional licenses held, etc. Database 180 may also        maintain information may related to        colleges/universities/technical institutions/trade institutions,        etc. that the insured individual attended and/or graduated from        and the years attended.    -   j) Occupation(s): Database 180 may maintain information related        to the insured individual's current and/or past occupations        including, for example, the industry (e.g., health care,        teaching, etc.), the field of occupation (e.g., lawyer, doctor,        etc.), specific companies, etc. Database 180 may also maintain        information related to the specific positions held by the        insured individual, the responsibilities/tasks performed by the        insured individual in each position, etc. Database 180 may also        maintain information related to the duration of time and/or        dates the individual performed each position.    -   k) Hobby(s): Database 180 may maintain information related to        the insured individual's current and past hobbies and        information related to the duration of time and/or dates the        individual engaged in such hobbies.    -   l) Genealogy/Relatives: Database 180 may maintain information        related to the insured individual's ancestors including, for        example, parents, grandparents, great-grandparents, etc.        Database 180 may maintain information related to the insured        individual's sibling(s), first/second/etc. cousins, aunts,        uncles, etc. Database 180 may also maintain information on the        insured individual's children (natural, adopted), grandchildren,        etc. Database 180 may also maintain information on any        dependents of the insured individual. The information database        180 may maintain on such individuals may include whether the        individual is living/deceased, and any other information        discussed herein including, for example, name, address, place of        birth, etc.    -   m) Husbands/Wives/Significant Others: Database 180 may maintain        information related to the insured individual's current and past        husbands/wives/significant others, etc. The information database        180 may maintain on such individuals may include any information        discussed herein including, for example, name, address, place of        birth, etc.-   3. Information related to the beneficiary of policy: According to an    embodiment of the invention, database 180 may maintain information    related to the beneficiary(s) of a given insurance policy including,    for example:    -   a) Current Beneficiary: Database 180 may maintain an indication        as to the current beneficiary(s) of a given policy. The        beneficiary may include, for example, an individual, an entity        (e.g., a corporation), a trust, a financial fund, etc. When the        beneficiary is an individual, database 180 may maintain any of        the information disclosed herein for an insured, for example.    -   b) Previous Beneficiary: Database 180 may maintain an indication        as to any previous beneficiary(s) of a given policy that was        subsequently removed and/or changed. When the beneficiary of a        policy has been removed and/or changed, database 180 may        maintain information as to when the beneficiary was changed        (e.g., date) and by which owner(s) of the policy. Database 180        may maintain information as to why a beneficiary is removed        and/or changed (e.g., death of beneficiary, sale of policy,        etc.). When the previous beneficiary is an individual, database        180 may maintain any of the information disclosed herein for an        insured, for example.-   4. Information related to the owner of a policy: According to an    embodiment of the invention, database 180 may maintain information    related to the owner of a given insurance policy as further    disclosed below. One skilled in the art will recognize that if the    policy has more than one owner at a given time, database 180 may    maintain such information for each owner.    -   a) Current Owner: Database 180 may maintain an indication as to        the current owner(s) of a given policy. The owner may include,        for example, an individual, an entity (e.g., a corporation), a        trust, a financial fund, etc. When the owner is an individual,        database 180 may maintain any of the information disclosed        herein for an insured, for example.    -   b) Previous Owner: Database 180 may maintain an indication as to        any previous owner(s) of a given policy that have been removed        and/or changed. When the owner of a policy has been removed        and/or changed, database 180 may maintain information as to when        the owner was removed and/or changed including, for example, the        date and time the owner was removed and/or changed as further        disclosed herein, for example. Database 180 may maintain        information as to why an owner of a policy is removed and/or        changes (e.g., death of an owner, sale of a policy, an        assignment of a policy, a devise of a policy, a bequest of a        policy, etc.). When the previous owner is an individual,        database 180 may maintain any of the information disclosed        herein for an insured, for example.-   5. Information related to the state of a policy: According to an    embodiment of the invention, database 180 may maintain information    related to the current state of a policy with respect to system 100.    For example, database 180 may maintain an indication as to whether    the policy is in a pending state, active state, or closed state and    how the policy reached that state (e.g., the policy is in a closed    state because the policy was withdrawn from sale). Database 180 may    also maintain an indication as to the status of a policy with    respect to a given state and how the policy reached that status    within the state (e.g., the policy is in the closed state and has a    withdrawn status because the seller participant withdrew it from    sale).-   6. Information related to the status of a policy: According to an    embodiment of the invention, database 180 may maintain information    related to the status of a policy including, for example, whether    the policy is still active or terminated and possibly why a policy    is terminated (e.g., because premium payments lapsed, the term    lapsed, the insured is deceased, an owner terminated the policy by    collecting the cash surrender value, etc).-   7. Information related to the number of times a policy has been    transferred: According to an embodiment of the invention, database    180 may maintain information related to the number of times    ownership of a policy (at least in part) has been transferred (e.g.,    sold) including for example, an initial transfer and each subsequent    transfer of ownership. In particular, database 180 may maintain an    indication as to whether a policy has never been transferred, is in    the process/has been transferred once, is in the process/has been    transferred twice, etc.-   8. Information related to a primary/first time transfer of a policy:    According to an embodiment of the invention, database 180 may    maintain information (if applicable) related to the first time a    policy was transferred from an initial owner of the policy to a    second owner (i.e., primary/first time transaction) as further    disclosed herein. The primary/first time transfer may have been the    result of a sale, an assignment, a devise, a bequest, etc. of a    policy.    -   a) Type of transaction: Database 180 may maintain an indication        as to the type of transaction that resulted in the policy being        transferred from an initial owner of the policy to a second        owner. For example, database 180 may maintain an indication as        to whether the transaction was a sale (and in particular, the        type of sale—auction, advertisement, reverse auction, etc.), an        assignment, a devise, a bequest, etc.    -   b) Transferor: Database 180 may maintain an indication (e.g.,        name, identification number, etc.) as to the transferor(s)        (e.g., a seller) of the policy (i.e., the initial owner of the        policy). The transferor may include, for example, an individual,        an entity (e.g., a corporation), a trust, a financial fund, etc.        When the transferor is an individual, database 180 may maintain        any of the information disclosed herein for an insured, for        example.    -   c) Transferee: Database 180 may maintain an indication (e.g.,        name, identification number, etc.) as to the transferee(s)        (e.g., a buyer) of the policy (i.e., the second owner of the        policy). The transferee may include, for example, an individual,        an entity (e.g., a corporation), a trust, a financial fund, etc.        When the transferee is an individual, database 180 may maintain        any of the information disclosed herein for an insured, for        example.    -   d) Transfer price: Database 180 may maintain, if applicable,        information related to the amount of money (e.g., a selling        price) paid by the transferee in exchange for the policy. One        skilled in the art will recognize that the transferor may have        received less than the transfer price (e.g., is broker fees are        removed there from).    -   e) Date: Database 180 may maintain information related to when        the policy was transferred between the transferee and        transferor. Such information may include a date, time, etc.    -   f) Beneficiary: Database 180 may maintain information related to        any changes in the beneficiary(s) of the policy as a result of        the transfer. For example, database 180 may maintain an        indication (e.g., name, identification number, etc.) as to the        previous beneficiary(s) and an indication (e.g., name,        identification number, etc.) as to the new beneficiary(s).    -   g) Additional information related to the sale of a policy:        Assuming the transaction was a sale of a policy, additional        information maintained by database 180 may include:        -   Selling broker: Database 180 may maintain an indication            (e.g., name, identification number, etc.) as to a broker            that assisted the seller in selling the policy. The broker            may include, for example, an individual, an entity, etc.        -   Buying broker: Database 180 may maintain an indication            (e.g., name, identification number, etc.) as to a broker            that assisted the buyer in buying the policy. The broker may            include, for example, an individual, an entity, etc.        -   Date: Database 180 may maintain information related to when            the policy was sold. Such information may include a date,            time, etc. In particular, such information may include a            date the policy was initially offered for sale, a date an            offer (e.g., a bid) to purchase the policy was accepted, the            date the transaction closed, etc.        -   Offered prices: Database 180 may maintain information            related to each of the prices at which a seller offered to            sell a policy and/or each of the prices at which a buyer(s)            offered to purchase a policy. Database 180 may also maintain            an indication (e.g., name, identification number, etc.) of            each such buyer. Alternatively and/or in addition, database            180 may maintain a range of such prices (i.e., a range of            prices at which a seller offered to sell a policy and/or a            range of prices at which buyers offered to buy a policy).        -   Length of auction/sale period: Database 180 may maintain            information related to a length of time a policy was offered            for sale (e.g., length of an auction period). For example,            the length of time may include from when a policy was            initially offered for sale (e.g., when bids were initially            accepted) to when an offer to purchase the policy was            accepted.        -   Commissions: Database 180 may maintain information related            to any commissions paid to a seller's broker and/or to a            buyer's broker. Commissions may include, for example, flat            fees, percentage of sale price, etc.        -   Other payments: Database 180 may maintain information            related to any other payments (e.g., fees) paid in relation            to an initial sale of a policy. Such payments may include            payments made to system 100, for example, in connection with            facilitating the transaction.-   9. Information related to a secondary transfer of a policy:    According to an embodiment of the invention, database 180 may    maintain (if applicable) information related to any secondary    transaction/transfer of ownership of a policy (i.e., any transaction    subsequent to the primary/first time transaction). Again, any    secondary transaction may be the result of a sale, an assignment, a    devise, a bequest, etc. of a policy. Information related to a    secondary transaction of a policy may include the information    disclosed herein with reference to a primary/first time transaction    of a policy.-   10. Information related to an unsuccessful transfer of a policy:    According to an embodiment of the invention, database 180 may    maintain (if applicable) information related to any attempted    transaction/transfer of ownership of a policy (including, for    example, any attempted primary/first time transaction of a policy    and/or any attempted secondary time transaction of a policy) that    was not successfully completed. Again, any attempted transaction may    include an attempted sale, assignment, devise, bequest, etc. of a    policy. Example information database 180 may maintain includes    -   a) Type of transaction: Database 180 may maintain an indication        as to the type of the attempted transaction (e.g., a sale (and        in particular, the type of sale—auction, advertisement, reverse        auction, etc.), an assignment, a devise, a bequest, etc.).    -   b) Reason(s) why attempted transaction failed to complete:        Database 180 may maintain an indication(s) as to why an        attempted transaction of a policy failed to complete. Reasons        may include, for example, a seller withdrew the policy from        sale, an administrator of server 104/system 100, for example,        withdrew the policy from sale (e.g., because information        necessary to sell the policy was not obtained and/or the policy        did not obtain approval for sale), the policy failed to        successfully sell/trade because, for example, a minimum        bid/selling amount/price was never obtained, the policy        successfully sold but failed to successfully clear, etc.    -   c) Name of transferor: Database 180 may maintain an indication        (e.g., name, identification number, etc.) as to the        transferor(s) (e.g., a seller) of the policy as similarly        discussed above.    -   d) Name of transferee: Database 180 may maintain an indication        (e.g., name, identification number, etc.) as to a transferee(s)        (if applicable) of a policy to which the policy was not        successfully transferred.    -   e) Transfer price: Database 180 may maintain information related        to the amount of money (e.g., a selling price) that was agreed        upon (if applicable) between a transferor and transferee in        exchange for a transfer of the policy.    -   f) Date: Database 180 may maintain information related to when        (e.g., a date, time, etc.) the attempted transfer of the policy        took place and/or subsequently failed to take place.    -   g) Additional information related to an attempted sale of a        policy: Assuming the attempted transaction was a sale of a        policy, additional information maintained by database 180 may        include:        -   Name of selling broker: Database 180 may maintain an            indication (e.g., name, identification number, etc.) as to a            broker that assisted a seller in an attempted sale of the            policy.        -   Name of buying broker: Database 180 may maintain an            indication (e.g., name, identification number, etc.) as to a            broker that assisted a possible buyer in an attempted            purchase of the policy.        -   Date: Database 180 may maintain information related to when            the attempted transfer of the policy took place. Such            information may include a date, time, etc. In particular,            such information may include a date a policy was initially            offered for sale, a date an offer (e.g., a bid) to purchase            the policy was accepted, the date the transaction closed,            the date the attempted transaction failed to complete (e.g.,            date policy was withdrawn from sale), etc.        -   Offered prices: Database 180 may maintain information            related to each of the prices at which a seller offered to            sell a policy and/or each of the prices at which a buyer(s)            offered to purchase a policy. Database 180 may also maintain            an indication (e.g., name, identification number, etc.) of            each such buyer. Alternatively and/or in addition, database            180 may maintain a range of such prices (i.e., a range of            prices at which a seller offered to sell a policy and/or a            range of prices at which buyers offered to buy a policy).        -   Length of sale/auction period: Database 180 may maintain            information related to a length of time a policy was offered            for sale. For example, the length of time may include from            when a policy was initially offered for sale (e.g., when            bids were initially accepted) to when the transaction failed            to complete.-   11. Information related to loans/liens and withdrawals against the    policy: According to an embodiment of the invention, database 180    may maintain information related to any loans or withdrawals related    to an insurance policy including, for example:    -   a) Cash account and withdrawals: Database 180 may maintain, if        applicable, information related to whether there has been a        withdrawal(s) from a cash account associated with a policy. In        particular, for each cash withdrawal, database 180 may maintain        an indication as to which owner(s) of the policy made the        withdrawal, on which date the withdrawal was made, the amount of        the withdrawal, etc.    -   b) Cash account and loans: Database 180 may maintain, if        applicable, information related to loans made against a cash        account associated with a policy. In particular, for each loan,        database 180 may maintain an indication as to which owner(s) of        the policy took the loan, the initial amount of the loan, the        date the loan was taken, whether the loan is outstanding or has        been repaid, the interest rate, the premium amounts, etc. For        outstanding loans, database 180 may also maintain the date on        which the loan is to be repaid by and the outstanding balance of        the loan. For repaid loans, database 180 may also maintain the        date the loan was repaid in full and which owner(s) repaid the        loan.    -   c) Loans against the policy: Database 180 may maintain, if        applicable, information related to loans that name(d) the policy        as collateral (i.e., whether the policy has been collaterally        assigned). In particular, for each loan, database 180 may        maintain an indication as to which owner(s) of the policy took        the loan, the initial amount of the loan, the date the loan was        taken, whether the loan is outstanding or has been repaid, the        interest rate, the premium amounts, which entity provided the        loan and thereby holds/held rights to the policy as collateral,        etc. For outstanding loans, database 180 may also maintain the        date on which the loan is to be repaid by and the outstanding        balance of the loan. For repaid loans, database 180 may also        maintain the date the loan was repaid in full and which owner(s)        repaid the loan.-   12. Premium Financing: Database 180 may maintain, if applicable,    information related to whether premiums of the policy have been    financed and the terms of such financing.

Again, one skilled in the art will recognize that for a given policy,database 180 may store/maintain other/additional information.

According to various embodiments of the invention, database 180 maymaintain any of the above discussed information in one or more forms.For example, for a given policy, database 180 may have various fieldsrepresenting any of the above described information, with values forthose fields entered in a structured form such that the fields/valuesmay be searchable. Here, for example, each field may represent adiscrete piece of information. As another example, database 180 maymaintain various fields representing any of the above describedinformation with values for those fields entered in free-form and/orunstructured form such that the values themselves may or may not besearchable. Here, for example, numerous pieces of information may bemaintained in one field. As another example, database 180 may maintainvarious fields with each field representing a specific document.Accordingly, accessing the field may provide access to the document.Here, for example, numerous pieces of information may be maintained ineach document. The documents may be stored in a searchable (e.g., a textdocument) or non-searchable form (e.g., a scanned document, or picture).Example documents maintained by database 180 for a given policy mayinclude a copy of the policy and any riders, copies of health documents,copies of an illustration, etc.

According to various embodiments of the invention, any of theinformation discussed above, for example, may be entered/submitted intoand/or updated at database 180 in various fashions as discussed below:

-   1. A seller participant: According to an embodiment of the    invention, information may be submitted to system 100/server 104 by    a seller of a policy, with the information then being submitted    into/updated at database 180. For example, when system 100/server    104 are being used for the first time to sell a life settlement    policy and/or resale policy, a seller participant may initially    submit the information, which is then subsequently submitted into    database 180. Alternatively, when system 100/server 104 are being    used for a second or subsequent time to sell a life insurance    policy, a seller participant may update previously submitted    information, in addition to submitting new information, with the    information then being submitted into and/or updated at database    180.-    According to various embodiments of the invention, a seller    participant may submit/update information to system 100 in various    fashions. For example, a seller participant may submit/update    information at workstation 101, with workstation 101 then conveying    the information to server 104 and server 104 then automatically    submitting/updating the information at database 180, and/or with    workstation 101 automatically submitting/updating the information at    database 180. Alternatively, if server 104 obtains the information    from a workstation 101, an administrator of server 104, for example,    may review the information and then submit/update the information to    database 180. According to an embodiment of the invention, a seller    participant may submit/update information at workstation 101 in    various fashions. For example, workstation 101 may present to a    seller participant a graphical interface/display with one or more    data entry fields, menus, and/or selectable options, for example,    through which the seller participant may submit/update information.    Server 104 may cause workstation 101 to present such an interface.    As another example, workstation 101 may allow a seller participant    to audibly enter information, which information may be interpreted    by workstation 101 and/or server 104 and automatically entered into    database 180 by workstation 101 and/or server 104 and/or which    information may be reviewed/received by an administrator of server    104, for example, and which administrator may then submit the    information to database 180. As another example, a seller    participant may create files (such as text files or scanned files)    at workstation 101, for example, and/or submit files to workstation    101, for example, and then submit these files in whole or in part    via workstation 101 to server 104, for example. For example,    workstation 101 and/or server 104 may automatically review the files    for selective information with workstation 101 and/or server 104,    for example, then automatically submitting the information to    database 180. Alternatively, an administrator of server 104, for    example, may review the files once received by server 104, for    example, and then submit the information to database 180.    Alternatively, the files may be submitted in whole to database 180.    One skilled in the art will recognize that a seller participant may    submit/update information at workstation 101 for subsequent    conveyance to server 104 and database 180, for example, in other    fashions including, for example, email, SMS, etc.-    According to another embodiment of the invention, a seller    participant may submit/update information to system 100 by    contacting an administrator (e.g., customer service representative)    of system 100/server 104, for example, with the administrator then    submitting/updating the information at database 180. For example, a    seller participant may call, fax, email, meet face-to-face with,    etc. an administrator.-   2. A buyer participant: According to an embodiment of the invention,    information may be submitted to system 100/server 104 by a buyer    participant, with the information then being submitted into/updated    at database 180. For example, a buyer participant may submit/update    such information in conjunction with the buyer participant    interacting with system 100 to purchase policies. A buyer    participant may submit/update information to system 100 and    subsequently database 180 as similarly described above for a seller    participant.-   3. A participant: According to an embodiment of the invention,    information may be submitted to system 100/server 104 by any    participant, with the information then being submitted into/updated    at database 180. For example, a participant that owns a policy, but    is not necessarily selling the policy, and/or that simply has    information on a policy may submit/update such information. As    another example, the issuer of a policy may submit/update such    information. Any such a participant may submit/update information to    system 100 and subsequently database 180 as similarly described    above for a seller participant.-   4. An administrator: According to an embodiment of the invention, an    administrator (e.g., a service representative) of system 100/server    104, for example, may obtain and/or determine the information and    then submit/update the information into database 180. For example,    according to various embodiments of the invention, an administrator    may converse with a seller and/or buyer participant as discussed    above, for example. As another example, an administrator may    converse with health care providers (e.g., doctors), life insurance    companies, lending institutions, etc. to obtain such information.-   5. Automatically by server 104: According to an embodiment of the    invention, server 104 (and/or a system associated with server 104),    for example, may access systems external to system 100 to obtain    such information and then submit/update the information into    database 180. For example, assuming server 104 has proper    security/authorization access, server 104 may access one or more    systems of healthcare providers, one or more systems of life    insurance companies, etc.-    According to another embodiment of the invention, server 104 may    automatically obtain such information in the course of conducting a    transaction/sale and submit/update the information at database 180.    For, example, server 104 may determine the buyer participant of a    purchased policy, the winning bid by this participant, the date/time    of sale, etc. and automatically submit this information to database    180.-    According to another embodiment of the invention, server 104 may    automatically generate information (e.g., a universal identifier)    and submit/update the information at database 180.-   6. Automatically by workstation 101: According to an embodiment of    the invention, a workstation 101, for example, may access systems    external to system 100 to obtain such information and then    submit/update the information into database 180 either directly, or    by sending the information to server 104 and/or an administrator    thereof, for example.-    According to another embodiment of the invention, a workstation 101    may automatically obtain such information in the course of    conducting a transaction/sale and submit/update the information at    database 180, possibly through server 104 and/or an administrator    thereof. According to another embodiment of the invention, a    workstation 101 may automatically generate information and    submit/update the information to database 180, possibly through    server 104 and/or an administrator thereof.

One skilled in the art will recognize that information maysubmitted/updated at database 180 in other fashions than those discussedabove.

According to an embodiment of the invention, each policy maintained indatabase 180 may be uniquely accessed and/or indexed based on a policynumber of the policy and/or a universal/unique identifier assigned tothe policy. Again, such a universal identifier may be assigned, forexample, to a given policy by system 100/server 104, for example, whenthe policy is initially submitted to database 180, for example.Alternatively, such a universal identifier may be assigned, for example,to a given policy by an issuer when issuing a policy, and/or by agoverning entity, etc. Accordingly, given a policy number/universalidentifier, database 180 may return one or more pieces of information onthe corresponding policy.

According to an embodiment of the invention, a profile, such as astandard profile, may be maintained for each policy maintained indatabase 180. In general, such a profile may include a subset of theinformation discussed above and in particular, may include informationthat may be provided and/or made available to participants (includingbuyer and seller participants) via workstations 101. For example, theprofile may include information on a policy that a participant mayrequest from server 104 (and thereby database 180) via a workstation 101and which may be subsequently made available to the participant viaworkstation 101 by server 104, such as through a display.

According to an embodiment of the invention, the profile on a givenpolicy may include any of the information discussed above. According toa particular embodiment of the invention, the profile on a given policymay include any of the information discussed above excluding, however,any “privacy related” information. In particular, according to anembodiment of the invention, not all information maintained by database180 on a given policy may be accessible to all participants of system100. Such information may be referred to as “privacy related”information and may include any information that may be used tospecifically identify, for example, the insured of the policy, thebeneficiary of the policy, the current owner of the policy, the specificpolicy itself (e.g., the policy number), the broker assisting in sellinga policy, etc. (privacy related information may include other types ofinformation). According to an embodiment of the invention, privacyrelated information may only be accessible to certain participants (suchas the current owner of a policy) and/or may only be accessible to aparticipant(s) depending on a state of the policy. For example, a buyerparticipant may not have access to privacy related information untilthat participant is deemed to have submitted a winning bid for thepolicy and is in the process of closing on the policy and/or has closedon the policy, and is thereby the new owner of the policy.

According to an embodiment of the invention, the profile for a givenpolicy may include, for example:

-   1. The universal identifier assigned to a policy.-   2. “Information specific to the life insurance policy” (as discussed    above) other than, for example, the policy number, identity of the    insured, identity of the owner, and identity of the beneficiary.-   3. “Information related to the insured of a life insurance policy”    (as discussed above) other than, for example, specific information    that may be used to identify the insured.-   4. A copy of the insurance policy with privacy related information    removed-   5. Copies of medical records with privacy related information    removed, etc.

According to an embodiment of the invention, server 104 may create sucha profile as a policy is submitted to system 100, such as for sale, andmay update the profile as additional information is obtained and/orchanges. According to an embodiment of the invention, server 104 maymaintain such a profile in database 180. According to another embodimentof the invention, server 104 may create the profile (e.g., selectivelyaccess the information from database 180) as the profile is requested bya participant.

Buying and Selling Life Insurance Policies

Referring now more specifically to the buying and selling of insurancepolicies, a seller participant may initially access system 100 to submitan insurance policy for sale. In particular, according to an embodimentof the invention, a seller participant may access server 104 via aworkstation 101 and through one or more graphical interfaces/displays,indicate a desire to sell an insurance policy. As a result of indicatinga desire to sell a policy and assuming the insurance policy is a lifesettlement policy and is thereby being sold for the first time or is aresale policy that is being sold for the first time via system 100,workstation 101 may prompt/instruct (possibly as a result of server 104and possibly through one or more graphical interfaces/displays) a sellerparticipant to enter/submit any of the information discussed aboveincluding, for example, information specific to the life insurancepolicy, information related to the insured of the policy, informationrelated to any prior transfer of the policy (i.e., such as in the caseof a resale policy) and/or attempted but unsuccessful transfer of thepolicy, etc.

As discussed above, a seller participant may submit information atworkstation 101 in various fashions. For example, workstation 101 maypresent to the seller participant a graphical interface/display with oneor more data entry fields, menus, and/or selectable options, forexample, through which the seller participant may submit information. Asanother example, a seller participant may create files (such as textfiles or scanned files) at workstation 101, for example, and/or submitfiles to workstation 101, for example, and then submit these files inwhole or in part via workstation 101, for example.

As the seller participant submits information to workstation 101,workstation 101 may communicate the information to server 104, forexample, where the information may be subsequently submitted to database180, as discussed above. One skilled in the art will recognize that theseller participant may submit information in other and/or additionalfashions including, for example, by contacting an administrator (e.g.,customer service representative) of system 100/server 104, as discussedabove.

As a result of indicating a desire to sell a policy and submitting oneor more pieces of information on the policy, server 104 may assign, forexample, a universal identifier to the policy and return the identifierto the seller participant via workstation 101. As discussed above, theuniversal identifier may have a form such that while the sellerparticipant can identify the submitted policy by the identifier, otherparticipants (e.g., buying and selling) viewing the identifier may notbe able to identify the specific policy and/or the insured/sellerparticipant/owner/beneficiaries/etc. associated with the policy.

According to an embodiment of the invention, as a result of indicating adesire to sell a policy and submitting one or more pieces of informationon the policy, server 104 and/or an administrator associated therewith,for example, may interact with one or more other systems and/orindividuals to obtain any additional information related to the policyto be sold. Proper authorization (e.g., release forms) may need to befirst obtained from the seller participant, insured, etc. before suchinformation can be obtained. For example, interactions may occur withone or more health care providers to obtain prior medical/healthinformation on the insured and/or to obtain a current (possibly to beperformed) medical evaluation of the insured. As another example,interactions may occur with the issuer of the policy. As a furtherexample, interactions may occur with one or more evaluation firms toobtain one or more life expectancy evaluations/reports of the insured ofa policy. Again, such additional information may be subsequentlysubmitted to database 180, as discussed above.

In addition to a seller participant selling a life settlement policyand/or a resale policy that is being sold for the first time via system100 as discussed above, a seller participant may also access server 104via a workstation 101 to resell a resale policy that has been previouslysold via system 100 (including a policy that may have been transferredat least once without system 100). As a result of indicating a desire tosell such a policy, workstation 101 may prompt/instruct (possibly as aresult of server 104 and possibly through one or more graphicalinterfaces/displays) the seller participant to enter/submit and/orupdate any of the information discussed above. According to anotherembodiment of the invention, because database 180 may already containinformation on such a policy, workstation 101 may prompt/instruct theseller participant to simply identify the policy by providing, forexample, the policy number and/or a universal identifier and may alsoprompt/instruct the seller participant to provide any updates/changes tothe policy. Once the seller participant submits information toworkstation 101, workstation 101 may communicate the information toserver 104, for example, where the information may be subsequentlysubmitted to database 180, as discussed above. Assuming such a policyalready has an assigned universal identifier, as a result of indicatinga desire to resell such a policy, server 104 may assign, for example, anew universal identifier to the policy and return the new identifier tothe seller participant via workstation 101. Alternatively, the previousidentifier may be maintained.

According to an embodiment of the invention, as a result of indicating adesire to resell a resale policy, server 104 and/or an administratorassociated therewith, for example, may again interact with one or moreother systems and/or individuals to obtain any additional informationrelated to the policy (e.g., prior medical/health information on theinsured and/or a current medical evaluation of the insured, one or morelife expectancy evaluations of the insured of a policy, etc). Again,such additional information may be subsequently submitted to database180.

As discussed above, according to an embodiment of the invention, server104 may create a profile for a policy as the policy is submitted tosystem 100 for sale and may update the profile as additional informationis obtained and/or changes.

As discussed above, a policy submitted to system 100 may be in, forexample, one of three states including, for example, a pending state, anactive/live state, and a closed state (again, one skilled in the artwill recognize that while policies may be described herein as being inone of several states, fewer, additional, different and/or no states mayalso be used). According to one embodiment of the invention, as a resultof a seller participant indicating a desire to sell a policy asdiscussed above, server 104 may cause the policy to proceed initiallyfrom the pending state, to the active/live state, to the closed state.

In particular, according to an embodiment of the invention, as a resultof a seller participant indicating a desire to sell a policy asdiscussed above, server 104 may cause the policy to proceed initially tothe pending state. In this state, information as discussed above may beobtained for the policy and in particular, that information necessaryfor a potential buyer participant to sufficiently evaluate the policy inorder to determine a value for the policy, such as a fair market value,may be obtained. Once such information is obtained, the policy may needto go through an approval process. Thereafter, server 104, for example,may deem the policy as ready to proceed to the active/live state.

The active/live state may include, for example, a period of time (e.g.,an auction period) during which buyer participants may submit bids onthe policy. The start date/time of the auction period and the duration(e.g., length of time) of the auction period may be predetermined byserver 104, for example, and/or by the seller participant. According toan embodiment of the invention, the seller participant may also indicatea starting bid price/amount and/or minimum bid/selling price/amount theseller participant is willing to accept for the policy (e.g., if theminimum price is not obtained at the end of the auction period, thepolicy may not sell, even though bids less than minimum price weresubmitted). The seller participant may also indicate a “trade it now”price, or in other words, a price at which the seller participant iswilling to sell the policy if obtained, thereby ending the auctionperiod.

During the active/live state, buyer participants, via a workstation 101,may submit one or more bids on a policy. Workstation 101 may communicatesuch bids to server 104, which in turn may communicate/make availablethe bids to other participants, including the seller participant andother buyer participants, via the workstations. Server 104 may continueto accept bids on a given policy for the duration of an auction period,for example, and/or until a given buyer participant submits a trade itnow price, for example, which may cause server 104 to end the auctionperiod.

According to an embodiment of the invention, at the end of the auctionperiod server 104 may move a policy to the closed state, where a winningbid and thereby winning buyer participant is determined. Server 104 maynotify, via workstations 101, the seller participant and the buyerparticipant (that submitted the winning bid) of the sale. During theclosed state, the purchased policy may also be cleared. As indicated,back office clearing center 112 and/or server 104 may, at least in part,assist in, cause, and/or provide functions related to clearing apurchased policy and/or to verifying that a purchased policy is cleared.Again, the clearing of a purchased policy may include, for example, thereceiving of monetary funds (e.g., equal to the winning bid amount) fromthe buyer participant and the sending of such funds, at least in part,to the seller participant, for example, and/or the transferring of aportion of such funds to any brokers, for example, and/or to system 100(e.g. a service fee). Alternatively and/or in addition, the clearing ofa purchased policy may include, for example, the transferring ofmonetary funds from an account of the buyer participant to the accountof the seller participant, for example, and/or the transferring of aportion of such funds to an account of any broker, for example, and/orto an account associated with system 100 (e.g. a service fee). Theclearing of a purchased policy may also include the preparation and/orexecution of a life settlement agreement in the case of a first timesale of a policy and/or may include the preparation and/or execution ofan agreement(s) for the transferring/changing of the ownership of thepolicy and/or the beneficial interest in the policy. Such agreements mayinvolve the buyer participant, the seller participant, and the insurancecompany/issuer of the policy (e.g., the insurance company may need to benotified of any changes in ownership and the beneficiary). Back officeclearing center 112 may, at least in part, assist in transferring and/orexecuting such agreements.

Obtaining and Viewing Policies

According to various embodiments of the invention, a participant(including, for example, buyer and/or seller participants) may requestvia a workstation 101, for example, to obtain information on one or morepolicies that are maintained by system 100 in database 180. Participantsmay make such requests for various reasons such as:

-   1. To obtain information on a given policy based on, or example, an    interest in purchasing the policy.-   2. To obtain status information on a given policy. For example, a    participant may want to know whether a given policy is in the    pending, active/live, or closed state and what is the status of the    policy in that state. For example, system 100 may indicate that a    policy is currently in the pending state and that an auction of the    policy will begin in “x” hrs, or that the policy is currently in the    active/live state and the auction period has “x” hours left, or that    the policy is currently in the closed state and in the process of    being cleared.-   3. To obtain status information on a given policy that is being    auctioned, such as the current high bid and the amount of time left    in the auction.-   4. To obtain an indication of all policies that meet one or more    criteria, etc.

One skilled in the art will recognize that a participant may requestinformation on one or more polices for other reasons.

As such, according to an embodiment of the invention, a participant maysubmit via a workstation 101 a request to obtain information on aspecific/particular policy. Using an interface provided by workstation101 (such as a graphical interface/display), a participant may designatea specific/particular policy such as through the policy's universalidentifier. In turn, workstation 101 may communicate the request(together with the identifier) to server 104, for example. In turn,server 104 may submit the request to (e.g., by query) database 180. Inresponse, database 180 may return to server 104 one or more pieces ofinformation associated with the policy, such as one or more pieces ofthe profile information. In turn, server 104 may provide the informationto workstation 101, which may then provide the information to theparticipant, such as through a graphical interface/display. One skilledin the art will recognize that information may flow from database 180 toa participant at a workstation 101, for example, in other fashions.

For example, according to an embodiment of the invention, there is shownin FIG. 2 an example graphical interface/display 200 that workstation101 may cause to be displayed to a participant as a result of theparticipant requesting information on a given policy (such as byspecifying a universal identifier 202). As shown, graphicalinterface/display 200 may include a subset of information (as shown bycolumns) maintained on the requested policy, such as a subset of theprofile information. For example, graphical interface/display 200 mayinclude the universal identifier 204 assigned to the policy, the type206 of the policy, the state of residence 208 of the insured, the gender210 of the insured, the age 212 of the insured, the face value 214 ofthe policy, and the status 216 of the policy relative to the state thepolicy is currently in (in this example, the policy is in the pendingstate). One skilled in the art will recognize that other information(and less information) may be provided/displayed and may be displayed ina format different from that shown.

According an embodiment of the invention, upon receiving graphicalinterface/display 200, a participant may request via workstation 101 toobtain additional information on the selected policy (in this example,by selecting the universal identifier 204 a, which may be in a form ofhyper-link, for example). In response to this request, workstation 101may communicate the request (which may include the universal identifier204) to server 104, for example, to obtain the additional information,which information may include additional profile information maintainedon the policy. After obtaining the information from database 180, server104 may provide the information to workstation 101, which may thenprovide the information to the participant, such as through a graphicalinterface/display. For example, according to an embodiment of theinvention, there is shown in FIG. 3A and FIG. 3B a portion of an examplegraphical interface/display 300 that workstation 101 may cause to bedisplayed to a participant as a result of the participant requestingadditional information on the given policy shown in FIG. 2. FIG. 3Ashows an upper portion of graphical interface/display 300 and FIG. 3Bshows a lower portion of graphical interface/display 300. Hereinafter,“FIG. 3” will be used to collectively refer to FIG. 3A and FIG. 3B. Oneskilled in the art will recognize that other information (and lessinformation) may be provided/displayed and may be displayed in a formatdifferent from that shown.

According to another embodiment of the invention, a participant maysubmit via a workstation 101 a search request to obtain information onpolicies that meet one or more search criteria. For example, policiesmay be searched based on the state of the policies (e.g., the pendingstate, the active/live state, the closed state), elements of the lifeinsurance policies (e.g., the issuer, the policy type, the face value,the death benefit, the premium), features of the insured (e.g., age,gender, impairments/illnesses, state of residence), and brokercommissions (e.g., the size of the commissions). As such, using aninterface provided by workstation 101 (such as a graphicalinterface/display), a participant may designate a search request and oneor more search criteria. In turn, workstation 101 may communicate therequest (together with the criteria) to server 104, for example, whichmay in turn submit the search request (e.g., query) to database 180. Inresponse, database 180 may return to server 104 the universal identifierassociated with each policy matching the search criteria and possiblyone or more pieces of information associated with each policy, such asone or more pieces of the profile information. In turn, server 104 mayprovide the information to workstation 101, which may then provide theinformation to the participant, such as through a graphicalinterface/display. Again, one skilled in the art will recognize thatinformation may flow from database 180 to a participant at a workstation101, for example, in other fashions.

For example, according to an embodiment of the invention, there is shownin FIG. 4 a portion of an example graphical interface/display 400 thatworkstation 101 may cause to be displayed to a participant as a resultof the participant making a search request based on an age (e.g., 79) ofthe insured, for example. As shown, graphical interface/display 400 mayinclude a listing of policies and in particular, a plurality of rows 401a-d (etc.), with each row corresponding to a different policy. For eachpolicy, graphical interface/display 400 may include a subset ofinformation maintained on each policy (as shown by the columns), such asa subset of the profile information. For example, graphicalinterface/display 400 may include the universal identifier 204 assignedto each policy, the type 206 of each policy, the state of residence 208of the insured for each policy, the gender 210 of the insured for eachpolicy, the age 212 of the insured for each policy, the face value 214of each policy, and the status 216 of each policy relative to the statethe policy is currently in. One skilled in the art will recognize thatother information (and less information) may be provided/displayed andmay be displayed in a format different from that shown.

According an embodiment of the invention, upon receiving graphicalinterface/display 400, a participant may request via workstation 101 toobtain additional information on a given policy (e.g., by selecting auniversal identifier 204 a, which may be in a form of hyper-link, forexample). In response to this request, workstation 101 may communicatethe request (which may include the universal identifier 204 of theselected policy) to server 104, for example, to obtain the additionalinformation, which information may include additional profileinformation maintained on the selected policy. After obtaining theinformation from database 180, server 104 may provide the information toworkstation 101, which may then provide the information to theparticipant, such as through a graphical interface/display (e.g.,similar to graphical interface/display 300).

As another example and according to another embodiment of the invention,there is shown in FIG. 5 an example graphical interface/display 500 thatworkstation 101 may cause to be displayed to a participant as a resultof the participant making a search request to obtain all policies thatare currently in the active/live state, for example. In response to thisrequest, workstation 101 may provide to the participant (as a result ofcommunicating with server 104, for example) all such policies. As shown,graphical interface/display 500 may include a listing of policies and inparticular, a plurality of rows 501 a-d (etc.), with each rowcorresponding to a different policy. For each policy, graphicalinterface/display 500 may include a subset of information maintained oneach policy (as shown by the columns), such as a subset of the profileinformation. For example, graphical interface/display 500 may includethe universal identifier 204 assigned to each policy, the type 206 ofeach policy, the state of residence 208 of the insured for each policy,the gender 210 of the insured for each policy, the age 212 of theinsured for each policy, the face value 214 of each policy, and thestatus 216 of each policy relative to the active/live state, forexample. Graphical interface/display 500 may also include theissuer/insurance company 218 of each policy and possibly a rating of theissuer (e.g., A creditworthiness evaluation may be performed on theinsurance company. This creditworthiness evaluation may be based onexisting ratings of the insurance company. Ratings may be performed bycompanies such as Standard & Poor, Moody, etc., or any other suitable oraccepted ratings agency) and the current highest bid 220 for the policy.One skilled in the art will recognize that other information (and lessinformation) may be provided/displayed and may be displayed in a formatdifferent from that shown. One skilled in the art will also recognizethat a participant may make similar search requests to obtain allpolicies that are currently in the pending and/or closed state (agraphical interface/display for the closed state may also include theclosing/winning bid for a policy).

According an embodiment of the invention, upon receiving graphicalinterface/display 500, a participant may request via workstation 101 toobtain additional information on a given policy (e.g., by selecting auniversal identifier 204 a of that policy). In response to this request,workstation 101 may communicate the request (which may include theuniversal identifier 204 of the selected policy) to server 104, forexample, to obtain the additional information, which information mayinclude additional profile information maintained on the selectedpolicy. After obtaining the information from database 180, server 104may provide the information to workstation 101, which may then providethe information to the participant, such as through a graphicalinterface/display (e.g., similar to graphical interface/display 300).

Again, one skilled in the art will recognize that policies may besearched and/or selected based on one or more other criteria than thosediscussed above.

Related Policies

According to an embodiment of the invention, one or more insurancepolicies maintained in database 180 may be deemed related. For example,two or more policies may be deemed related because they have one or morecommon insured. By relating policies, a seller and/or buyer participant,for example, may obtain information on a first policy via workstation101, for example, as discussed above and then determine/obtain, such asby making a request, other policies that may be deemed related to thefirst policy. For example, according to an embodiment of the invention,a participant may view information on a first policy via workstation101. In addition, workstation 101 may provide the participant theability/option (e.g., via a selectable option, such as selectable option222 in FIGS. 2-5) to make a request to obtain other policies that may bedeemed related to the first policy. Based on such a request, informationon these other policies (e.g., each policy's universal identifier) maybe made available to the participant via workstation 101, for example.Thereafter, the participant may request additional information on therelated polices by selecting any such policy.

For example, referring again to FIG. 2, a participant may wish to obtainother policies that are deemed related to the displayed policy (whichmay be referred to as a first policy). According to an embodiment of theinvention, the participant may request to obtain such related policiesby selecting, for example, button/option 222. One skilled in the artwill recognize that the participant may make the request in otherfashions. As a result of making the request, workstation 101 maycommunicate the request (e.g., together with the universal identifier202 of the displayed/first policy) to server 104, for example. In turn,server 104 may submit the request (e.g., by query) to database 180. Inresponse, database 180 may return to server 104 one or more pieces ofinformation associated with the policies that are deemed related to thefirst policy, such as one or more pieces of the profile information foreach such policy. In turn, server 104 may communicate the information toworkstation 101, which may then provide the information to theparticipant, such as through a graphical interface/display. One skilledin the art will recognize that information may flow from database 180 toa participant at a workstation 101, for example, in other fashions. Forexample, referring to FIG. 6A and FIG. 6B there is shown a portion of anexample graphical interface/display 600 that workstation 101 may causeto be displayed to a participant as a result of the participant making arequest to obtain polices that may be deemed to be related to the firstpolicy shown in FIG. 2. FIG. 6A shows an upper portion of graphicalinterface/display 600 and FIG. 6B shows a lower portion of graphicalinterface/display 600. Hereinafter, “FIG. 6” will be used tocollectively refer to FIG. 6A and FIG. 6B. As shown, graphicalinterface/display 600 may include a first area 602 showing informationrelated to the first policy and may include a second area 604 listingthe policies deemed to be related to the first policy. In particular,second area 604 may include a plurality of rows 601 a-d (etc.), witheach row corresponding to a different policy. For each policy in area604, graphical interface/display 600 may include a subset of informationmaintained on each policy (as shown by the columns), such as a subset ofthe profile information. One skilled in the art will recognize thatother information (and less information) may be provided/displayed andmay be displayed in a format different from that shown. According anembodiment of the invention, upon receiving graphical interface/display600, a participant may request via workstation 101 for example to obtainadditional information (such as additional profile information) on anyof the displayed related policies (e.g., by selecting the universalidentifier 204 a of that policy). In response to this request,workstation 101 may communicate the request (which may include theuniversal identifier 204 of the selected policy) to server 104, forexample, to obtain the additional information. After obtaining theinformation from database 180, server 104 may communicate theinformation to workstation 101, which may then provide the informationto the participant, such as through a graphical interface/display (e.g.,similar to graphical interface/display 300).

According to various embodiments of the invention, two or more policiesmay be deemed related for various reasons. For example, two or morepolicies may be deemed related because the policies have a single traitin common (e.g., each policy has the same insured; each policy has aninsured that is male). As another example, two or more policies may bedeemed related because the policies have two or more traits in common(e.g., each policy has an insured of a certain age and gender).According to an embodiment of the invention, a first policy may bedeemed related to a second policy and to a third policy, however, thesecond and the third policies may not be deemed related. As such,requesting policies that are deemed related to the second policy mayprovide the first policy, requesting policies that are deemed related tothe third policy may provide the first policy, and requesting policiesthat are deemed related to the first policy may provide the secondand/or the third policy.

Several examples of how policies may be related are provided below.However, one skilled in the art will recognize that a plurality ofpolicies may be determined/deemed related for other reasons.

-   1. A group of policies may be related because they have one or more    insured in common.-   2. A group of policies may be related because they currently have a    common beneficiary.-   3. A group of policies may currently have different beneficiaries    but may be related because at some point in time, possibly different    times, a given beneficiary(s) was common between the policies.-   4. A group of policies may be related because they currently have a    common owner.-   5. A group of policies may currently have different owners but may    be related because at some point in time, possibly different times,    a given owner owned each policy.-   6. A group of policies may be related because the same broker is    currently assisting in selling each policy.-   7. A group of policies may be related because at some point in time,    possibly different times, the same broker may have assisted in (or    is assisting in) selling each policy.-   8. A group of policies may have different insured; however, the    policies may be related because the insured of each policy has    common/similar demographics (e.g., the insured of each policy was    born in the same state; the insured of each policy now live (or at    some time did live) in the same state, or town, etc.; the insured of    each policy are of the same or approximately the same age; the    insured of each policy are of the same sex; the insured of each    policy have the same religion; etc.).-   9. A group of policies may have different insured; however, the    policies may be related because the insured of each policy has (or    at some time had) the same occupation, or work (or at some time    worked) in the same industry, or work (or at some time worked) for    the same company/employer, etc.-   10. A group of policies may have different insured; however, the    policies may be related because the insured of each policy has (or    at some time had) the same illness(s).-   11. A group of policies may have different insured; however, the    policies may be related because the insured of each policy has (or    at some time had) the same hobby(s).-   12. A group of policies may have different insured; however, the    policies may be related because the insured of each policy has the    same degree(s)/professional license(s), attended the same    college(s)/university(s), graduated in the same year or    approximately the same year, etc.-   13. A group of policies may have different insured; however, the    policies may be related because the insured of each policy are    related through a common genealogy (e.g., the insured of the    different policies are husband-wife; the insured of the different    policies are siblings; the insured of the different policies are    cousins; the insured of the different policies are parents-children;    the insured of the different policies are    grandparents-grandchildren, etc.).

According to an embodiment of the invention, two or more policies thatare deemed related may or may not be in the same state. For example, oneor more policies may be in the active state and one or more policies maybe in the closed state.

According to an embodiment of the invention, a group of policies thatare deemed related may include one or more policies that are maintainedby system 100 for information purposes. Specifically, as discussedabove, database 180 may maintain information related to insurancepolicies, including life settlement and resale policies, that weresubmitted to system 100/server 104 not for auction/sale but rather, wereentered into database 180 merely for informational purposes. Suchpolicies may include, for example, policies that are still being held bythe initial policy owner and are not for sale, policies that have beensold one or more times outside system 100, policies that are no longeractive because, for example, the term expired, the premium paymentslapsed, the owner terminated the policy by collecting the cash surrendervalue, etc. As such, when a participant requests to obtain policies thatare related to a first policy (such as a policy that is in the activestate and currently being sold), the participant may be provided with atleast one policy that, for example, is not for sale and has never beensold, and that is related to the first policy because the two policieshave, for example, a common insured.

According to an embodiment of the invention, a participant requestingrelated policies may be able to determine the specific reason why two ormore policies are deemed related. For example, two or more policies maybe deemed related because the policies are of the same type (e.g., termor whole life), because the policies have the same issuer, because thepolicies have insured from the same state, because the policies haveinsured of the same age, etc. In such cases, for example, a participantmay request policies that are deemed related to a first policy and bythen viewing, for example, information returned on the first and relatedpolicies, recognize that the policies each have the same value for oneor more fields of information. According to a further embodiment of theinvention, a participant may be provided with an indication thatspecifically identifies why two are more policies are deemed related(e.g., workstation 101 may provide to the participant an indication thateach of the provided policies has an insured of the same age).

According to an embodiment of the invention, a participant requestingrelated policies may not be able to determine the specific reason whytwo or more policies are deemed related. For example, two or morepolicies may be deemed related based on privacy related information. Asindicated above, privacy related information may include informationonly accessible to certain participants (such as the current owner of apolicy). For example, two or more policies may deemed related becausethey have the same/common insured(s), or because they have thesame/common beneficiary(s), or because they have the same/common owner,etc. (i.e., the policies may be deemed related based on information thatsystem 100 would not readily provide to just any participant). In suchcases, for example, a participant may request policies that are deemedrelated to a first policy and by then viewing, for example, informationreturned on the first and related policies, may not be able torecognize/determine that the policies each have the same value for oneor more fields of information and as such, may not may not be able todetermine the specific reason why two or more policies are deemedrelated.

According to a further embodiment of the invention, while a participantrequesting related policies may not be able to determine the specificreason why two or more polices are deemed related, the participant maybe able to determine in general why two or more polices are deemedrelated. For example, as discussed above, two or more policies may bedeemed related because they have a common insured. As also discussedabove, system 100 may provide to a participant for a given policy theage, state of residence, and gender of the insured of the policy, butnot the insured's name, for example. In such a case, for example, aparticipant may request policies that are deemed related to a firstpolicy and by then viewing, for example, information such as the age,state of residence, and gender of the insured of each related policy,recognize that the policies each have the same values for these fieldsand thereby determine that the policies are related because of a commoninsured, but without being told the specific identity of the insured.According to a further embodiment of the invention, a participant may beprovided with an indication that identifies in general why two are morepolicies are deemed related (e.g., workstation 101 may provide to theparticipant an indication that each of the provided policies has acommon insured, but not the identity of the insured).

According to a further embodiment of the invention, a participantrequesting related policies may not be able to determine the specificreason why two or more polices are deemed related and in addition, maynot be able to determine and may not be provided with any indication ingeneral as to why two or more polices are deemed related.

As discussed above, a first policy may be deemed related to at least asecond policy and to a third policy, however, the second and the thirdpolicies may not be deemed related. For example, the first policy may berelated to the second policy based on a first trait and may be relatedto the third policy based on a second trait. As such, if a participantrequests policies that are deemed related to the first policy, theparticipant may be provided with both the second and the third policies,even though the second and third policies are not deemed related.According to an embodiment of the invention, the participant, dependingon the reason(s) for the relationships between the policies, may or maynot be provided with the specific and/or general reason as to why thefirst policy is related to the second policy and may or may not beprovided with the specific and/or general reason as to why the firstpolicy is related to the third policy.

According to another embodiment of the invention, in addition to theparticipant being able to request policies that are deemed related tothe first policy, the participant may be able to specify (e.g., througha selectable option) the trait(s) used to determine which policies thefirst policy is related to. In particular, continuing with the aboveexample, the first policy may be related to the second policy based on afirst trait, such as the policies having a common insured. Similarly,the first policy may be related to the third policy based on a secondtrait, such as the policies having a common owner. According to anembodiment of the invention, the participant may be able to request allpolicies that are related to the first policy based on the trait ofcommon insured. In response to this request, the participant may beprovided with the second policy but not the third policy.

According to various embodiments of the invention, policies may becomerelated within system 100 in various fashions. In particular, accordingto one embodiment of the invention, a first policy may be deemed relatedto one or more other policies in advance of a participant requesting toobtain policies that are related to the first policy. For example,related policies may be linked within database 180, for example, suchthat the first policy will have an associated link to a second policyand/or the second policy will have an associated link to the firstpolicy. One skilled in the art will recognize that a relationshipbetween two or more policies may be maintained in other fashions.Accordingly, if server 104 receives a request from a workstation 101,for example, to obtain policies related to a first policy, server 104may query the database for the first policy and from this querydetermine and/or obtain the related policies based on the linking of thepolicies. Thereafter, server 104 may provide information associated withthe related policies to workstation 101, which may then make theinformation available to a participant.

According to another embodiment of the invention, rather than making adetermination that a first policy is related to one or more otherpolicies and maintaining in database 180, for example, a link betweensuch policies, a determination as to which policies may be related tothe first policy may be made at the time a participant makes a requestto obtain such related policies. For example, upon server 104 receivinga request from a workstation 101, for example, to obtain policiesrelated to a first policy, server 104 may query the database based onone or more traits to determine and/or obtain policies that may berelated to the first policy. Thereafter, server 104 may provideinformation associated with the related policies to workstation 101,which may then make the information available to a participant.

Referring more specifically to linking of related policies withindatabase 180, related policies may be linked in various fashions and atvarious times. For example, when a policy is initially submitted todatabase 180, a determination may be made as to whether the policy isrelated to other policies already in the database. This determinationmay be made as the policy is initially submitted to database 180, asadditional information is gathered on the policy such as from healthcare providers or the insurer, etc. As another example, a determinationmay be made on a periodic basis (e.g., each night at midnight; eachhour, etc.) based at least in part on the information available on thepolicy at that time. In particular, according to an embodiment of theinvention, when a first policy is initially submitted to database 180(e.g., by a seller participant for auction/sale), server 104 and/or anadministrator of server 104, for example, may automatically search/querythe database for commonality between one or more traits of the firstpolicy and other policies already in the database (e.g., commoninsured). Thereafter, server 104 and/or the administrator may review thepolicies obtained from the search/query and determine/deem the firstpolicy to be related to one or more of the obtained policies. The one ormore traits that are used to make a determination as to whether two ormore policies are related may be predetermined and/or may be determinedby an administrator, for example, upon viewing the policies. Forexample, two or more policies may be deemed related because they havethe same value for a given trait (e.g., same issuer; same insured). Asanother example, two or more policies may be deemed related because theyhave related values for a given trait (e.g., the insured for each policyhave different occupations but in the same industry). Again, one skilledin the art will recognize that two or more policies may be deemedrelated for any number of reasons. Once server 104 and/or anadministrator, for example, deems the first policy to be related to oneor more other policies, server 104 and/or the administrator may link thepolicies, as discussed above.

According to another embodiment of the invention, when particularinformation (e.g., an owner of a policy) on a policy is updated orchanged (e.g., by a participant, by server 104, by an administrator,etc.) within database 180, a determination may be made at to whether thepolicy is now related to other policies already in the database oralternatively, no longer related to other policies in the database.Again, such a determination may be made as the information ischanged/updated in the database and/or on a periodic basis, etc. Assuch, according to an embodiment of the invention and as similarlydiscussed above, when information on a first policy is updated/changedin database 180, server 104 and/or an administrator of server 104, forexample, may search/query the database for commonality between the firstpolicy and other policies already in the database as result of thechange, for example. Thereafter, server 104 and/or the administrator mayreview the policies obtained from the search/query and determine/deemthe first policy to be related to one or more of the obtained policies,and then link the policies. Alternatively, when information on a firstpolicy is updated/changed in database 180, server 104 and/or anadministrator of server 104, for example, may determine that the firstpolicy is no longer related to one or more other policies that werepreviously deemed to be related to the first policy and remove any linkbetween the policies.

According to another embodiment of the invention, when a seller and/orbuyer participant, for example, submits a policy to system 100, theparticipant may make an indication that the policy is related to one ormore other policies already in the database. For example, according toan embodiment of the invention, when a participant via a workstation101, for example, submits a first policy to system 100, the workstation(either directly or as a result of server 104, for example) may prompt(e.g., via a graphical interface/display) the participant to specifywhether the first policy is related to one or more other policies withindatabase 180 and/or may prompt the participant to provide informationthat may be used to determine whether the first policy is related to oneor more other policies within database 180. According to an embodimentof the invention, the participant may refuse to respond to any suchprompt. Assuming the participant responds, workstation 101 may thenforward the participant's response(s) to server 104 and/or anadministrator of server 104, for example. Based on the response, server104 and/or the administrator may then update database 180 to reflectthat the first policy is related to the one or more other policies bylinking, for example, the polices as discussed above. Alternatively,server 104 and/or the administrator, for example, may make adetermination based on the participant's response as to whether thefirst policy is related to one or more other policies, and may thenupdate database 180 to reflect any relationships based on the resultingdetermination.

According to another embodiment of the invention, assuming a sellerand/or buyer participant, for example, changes/updates particularinformation on a policy via a workstation 101, the workstation mayprompt the participant to specify whether the first policy is nowrelated to one or more other policies already in the database oralternatively, no longer related to other policies in the database.Alternatively, the workstation may prompt the participant to provideinformation that may be used to determine whether the first policy isnow related or no longer related to one or more other policies withindatabase 180. Based on the participant's response, server 104 and/or anadministrator may then update database 180 accordingly. Again, aparticipant may refuse to respond.

According to an embodiment of the invention, a participant via aworkstation 101, for example, may specify in various fashions that afirst policy is related to one or more other policies within database180 (or no longer related to other policies in the database). Forexample, workstation 101 may prompt the participant to specify specificpolicies (e.g., via a policy number and/or universal identifier) withindatabase 180 that should/may be related (or no longer related) to thefirst policy. In response, the participant may then provide the policynumber and/or universal identifier of one or more policies, for example.Based at least in part on the participant's response, server 104 and/oran administrator may then update database 180 to reflect that the firstpolicy is related to the one or more specified policies by linking thepolices as discussed above, for example. Alternatively, server 104and/or the administrator may review the specified policies and determinewhether the first policy should be related to one or more of thesespecified policies. The one or more traits that may be used to make thisdetermination may be predetermined and/or may be determined by anadministrator, for example, upon viewing the first and specifiedpolicies. In a similar fashion, the participant may specify one or morepolicies that should not longer be related to the first policy as aresult of a change to the first policy (such as the insured of the firstpolicy having changed occupations).

As another example, workstation 101 may prompt the participant tospecify specific policies (e.g., via a policy number and/or universalidentifier) within database 180 that should/may be related (or no longerrelated) to the first policy and may also provide the participant with aspecific trait(s) that would cause one policy to be related or notrelated to another policy. For example, workstation 101 may prompt theparticipant to specify any other policies in database 180 in which theinsured of the first policy and these other policies are in the sameoccupation. In response, the participant may then provide the policynumber and/or universal identifier of any such other policies. Based atleast in part on the participant's response, server 104 and/or anadministrator may then update database 180 to reflect that the firstpolicy is related to the one or more other specified policies by linkingthe polices as discussed above, for example, and/or may make adetermination at to whether the first policy should be related to one ormore of these specified policies. In a similar fashion, the participantmay specify one or more other policies that should not longer be relatedto the first policy as a result of a change to the first policy.

As another example, workstation 101 may prompt the participant tospecify specific information corresponding to one or more traits thatmay cause the first policy and other policies in database 180 to berelated (or no longer related). The one or more traits for which theparticipant provides information may either be predetermined by system100/server 104 and/or determined by the participant. For example,workstation 101 may prompt the participant to enter one or more portionsof the genealogy of the insured of the first policy (e.g., the name ofthe insured's mother or father). Based at least in part on the genealogyprovided by the participant, server 104 and/or an administrator ofserver 104, for example, may then search/query database 180 forcommonality between the first policy and other policies (e.g., otherpolicies that have insured corresponding to the provided genealogy).Thereafter, server 104 and/or an administrator may review the policiesobtained from the search/query and determine/deem the first policy to berelated to one or more of the obtained policies. As another example,workstation 101 may prompt the participant to enter the occupation ofthe insured of the first policy. Based at least in part on theparticipant's response, server 104 and/or an administrator, for example,may then search/query database 180 for commonality between the firstpolicy and other policies (e.g., other policies that have insuredcorresponding to the provided occupation) and may then determine/deemthe first policy to be related to one or more of the other policies.Again, in a similar fashion, the participant may specify one or moreother policies that should no longer be related to first policy as aresult of a change to the first policy.

According to another embodiment of the invention, workstation 101 mayprompt the participant to submit information on one or more otherpolicies that are not currently in database 180 but are deemed by theparticipant to be related to the first policy (again, the participantmay decline to respond/provide such information). Workstation 101 mayalso provide the participant with a specific trait(s) that would causeone policy to be related to another policy. For example, workstation 101may prompt the participant to provide information on one or more otherpolicies owned by the participant that have the same insured as thefirst policy but that are not currently in database 180/not for sale,for example. In response, the participant may submit to workstation 101,for example, select information on such other policies, resulting inthese other policies getting submitted to database 180 and linked to thefirst policy and possibly other policies already in database 180.Alternatively, server 104 and/or the administrator may review theprovided information on the other policies and determine whether thefirst policy should to be related to one or more of these specifiedpolicies. The one or more traits that are used to make thisdetermination may be predetermined and/or may be determined by anadministrator, for example, upon viewing the policies. As such, asdiscussed above, database 180 may maintain information related to lifeinsurance policies that were submitted to system 100/server 104 not forauction/sale but rather, were submitted to database 180 merely forinformational purposes.

According to another embodiment of the invention, similar to how aparticipant via a workstation 101, for example, may specify that a firstpolicy is related (or no longer related) to one or more other policieswithin database 180, an insurer of a policy (and/or a system associatedwith an insurer), for example, may also specify that a first policyis/may be related (or no longer related) to one or more other policieswithin database 180. For example, as server 104 and/or an administratorobtains information on a first policy from an insurer of that policy,the insurer may make an indication (e.g., based on an inquiry from theserver/administrator) that the first policy is/may be related to one ormore other policies. For example, the insurer may specify specificpolicies (e.g., via a policy number and/or universal identifier) thatshould/may be related to the first policy, as similarly discussed above.Based at least in part on the insurer's response, server 104 and/or anadministrator may then update database 180 to reflect that the firstpolicy is related to one or more of the specified policies by linkingthe polices as discussed above, for example, and/or may make adetermination as to whether the first policy should be related to one ormore of these specified policies. Alternatively, the insurer may specifyspecific information corresponding to one or more traits that may causethe first policy and other policies in database 180 to be related, assimilarly discussed above. Based at least in part on the specifiedinformation, server 104 and/or an administrator, for example, may thensearch/query database 180 for commonality between the first policy andother policies. Thereafter, server 104 and/or the administrator mayreview the policies obtained from the search/query and determine/deemthe first policy to be related to one or more of the obtained policiesand then update database 180 to reflect that the first policy is relatedto one or more of the obtained policies by linking the policies, assimilarly discussed above.

One skilled in the art will recognize that policies may bedeemed/determined related (or not related) and thereby linked/unlinked,for example, in other ways than those discussed above.

As indicated above, rather than making a determination that a firstpolicy is related to one or more other policies and maintaining indatabase 180, for example, a link between such policies, a determinationas to which policies may be related to a first policy may be made at thetime a participant makes a request to obtain related policies. Forexample, upon server 104 and/or an administrator of server 104, forexample, receiving a request from a workstation 101, for example, toobtain policies related to a first policy, server 104 and/or theadministrator may search/query the database for commonality between oneor more traits of the first policy and other policies already in thedatabase (e.g., common insured). Thereafter, server 104 and/or theadministrator may review the policies obtained from the search/query anddetermine/deem the first policy to be related to one or more of theobtained policies. The one or more traits that are used to make adetermination as to whether two or more policies are related may bepredetermined and/or may be determined by an administrator, for example,upon viewing the policies and/or may be specified by a participant, forexample. Once server 104 and/or the administrator, for example, deemsthe first policy to be related to one or more other policies, server 104may communicate information associated with the related policies toworkstation 101, which may then provide the information to theparticipant.

As discussed above, system 100 may allow a participant to make a requestto obtain policies that may be deemed related to a first policy. Asindicated, which policies are related to the first policy may bepredetermined (e.g., linking) and/or determined as the participant makesthe request. According to another embodiment of the invention, system100 may automatically display, for example, policies to a participant ata workstation 101 in such a fashion that the participant may readilydetermine that certain policies are deemed related. For example, asdiscussed above, a participant may submit via a workstation 101 a searchrequest to obtain information on policies that meet one or more searchcriteria, such as all policies that are currently in the active/livestate. In turn, workstation 101 may communicate the request to server104, for example, which may in turn submit the search request (e.g.,query) to database 180. In response, database 180 may return to server104 each policy matching the search criteria. In turn, server 104 maythen determine from among these policies which policies may be related(again, such a determination may be made because certain policies arelinked and/or server 104 and/or the administrator may review thepolicies obtained from the search/query and determine/deem based on oneor more traits that certain policies should/may be related). Thereafter,server 104 may group, for example, related policies. For example,assuming the search produces “X” policies, server 104 may deem a firstset of the policies to be related and make these a first group, a secondset of the policies to be related and make these a second group, etc.Any given group may include only one policy in that the policy is notrelated to any other policy from the “X” policies. According to anembodiment of the invention, a policy may be in more than one group.Thereafter, server 104 may provide information on all “X” policies toworkstation 101, but further denote the grouping of policies based onhow the policies are related. In turn, workstation 101 may then providethe information to the participant, such as through a graphicalinterface/display.

According to an embodiment of the invention, the policies of each groupmay be displayed together (such as in successive rows) with some form ofdelineation (e.g., a line) between each group thereby allowing theparticipant to recognize related policies. According to an embodiment ofthe invention, the policies of each group may be displayed in a similarcolor and/or font (possibly or possibly not in successive rows). Oneskilled in the art will recognize that related policies (i.e., policiesof each group) may be displayed/provided to the participant in otherfashions that would allow the participant to recognize related policies.As discussed above, for any given group, a participant may or may not beable to determine and may or may not be provided with the specificreason why the polices are deemed related and in addition, may or maynot be able to determine and may or may not be provided with anyindication in general as to why policies are deemed related.

According to an embodiment of the invention, the grouping of relatedpolicies as discussed above may be a feature a participant may turnon/off.

Designating Primary/Secondary Transfers

As discussed above, database 180 may maintain an indication as to thenumber of times ownership a policy has been transferred (e.g., via sale)(at least in part). Again, for policies that may have been transferredat least once, all such transfers may have occurred via system 100and/or at least one transfer may have occurred outside system 100.According to an embodiment of the invention, the indication as to thenumber of times a policy has been transferred as maintained by database180 may include transfers that occurred outside system 100 (e.g., asdiscussed above, a seller participant may provide such information tosystem 100 when selling a policy via the system).

According to an embodiment of the invention, when a buyer and/or sellerparticipant, for example, requests and obtains information on one ormore policies (e.g., when specifying a particular universal identifier,when making a search request, when requesting related policies, whenrequesting additional information on a given policy, etc.) as discussedabove, an indication as to the number of times ownership of a givenpolicy has been transferred may be included in that information, as madeavailable to the participant via a workstation 101, for example.According to an embodiment of the invention, the indication as to thenumber of times a given policy has been transferred as provided to aparticipant may only include the number of times the transfer occurredvia sale (i.e., may exclude transfers that are not sales, such asbequests). According to another embodiment of the invention, theindication as to the number of times a given policy has been transferredas provided to a participant may include any transfer (e.g., sales andbequests).

According to various embodiments of the invention, the indication as tothe number of times a given policy has been transferred may be providedto a participant in various fashions. For example, as shown in FIGS. 2and 4-6, a “dot” 302 may be displayed/associated with a policy toindicate that the policy is in the process of and/or has beentransferred once (i.e., a primary transaction). For example:

-   -   For a policy in the pending state: “dot” 302 may indicate that        the policy, at the start of the associated auction period, is        going to be auctioned for a first time.    -   For a policy in the active/live state: “dot” 302 may indicate        that the policy is being auctioned for the first time.    -   For a policy in the closed state: “dot” 302 may indicate that        the policy has been auctioned/sold once.

Similarly, if no such “dot” is displayed/associated with a policy (e.g.,as shown in FIGS. 2 and 4-6), that policy may be in the process ofand/or has been transferred at least twice (i.e., a secondarytransaction). For example:

-   -   For a policy in the pending state: no “dot” 302 may indicate        that the policy, at the start of the associated auction period,        is going to be auctioned for at least a second time.    -   For a policy in the active/live state: no “dot” 302 may indicate        that the policy is being auctioned for at least the second time.    -   For a policy in the closed state: no “dot” 302 may indicate that        the policy has been auctioned/sold at least twice.

One skilled in the art will recognize that alternative ways may be usedto indicate the number of times a policy has been transferred. Forexample, “dot” 302 may be displayed/associated with a policy to indicatethat the policy is in the process of and/or has been transferred atleast twice and no such “dot” may indicate that the policy may be in theprocess of and/or has been transferred once.

Similarly, one skilled in the art will recognize that rather thandisplaying/associating no “dot” 302 with a policy to designate that thepolicy may be in the process of and/or has been transferred at leasttwice, for example, a symbol other than a “dot” may bedisplayed/associated with such policies.

Similarly, rather than using a symbol(s) to indicate the number of timesa policy has been transferred, certain colors and/or fonts and/or wordsmay be used. For example, the universal identifier 204 of a policy asshown in FIGS. 2 and 4-6, for example, may be shown in a first colorwhen the policy is in the process of and/or has been transferred onceand may be shown in a second color when the policy is in the process ofand/or has been transferred at least twice. As another example, a word,such as “primary” may be displayed/associated with a policy when thepolicy is in the process of and/or has been transferred once, andanother word, such as “secondary” may be displayed/associated with apolicy when the policy is in the process of and/or has been transferredat least twice.

According to another embodiment of the invention, rather than onlyindicating that a policy is in the process of and/or has beentransferred at least twice, an indication specificallyspecifying/identifying the number of times the policy has beentransferred may be provided. For example, an actual number (e.g., “3”)and/or word (“three”)) may be displayed/associated with a policy.

As similarly discussed above with reference to FIGS. 2 and 4-6, when aparticipant requests additional information on a given policy (e.g. asshown in FIG. 3), an indication 303 may also be provided to theparticipant to indicate the number of times the policy has beentransferred (in FIG. 3, the word “primary” or “secondary” is shown beingused, although other mechanisms may be used as discussed above).

According to an embodiment of the invention, an owner of a policy, forexample, may specify/indicate (e.g., via a workstation 101, to anadministrator of server 104, etc.) that server 104 should or should notmake available to other participants the number of times the policy hasbeen transferred. Such an indication (i.e., the turning on/off of thisfeature) may be maintained with the policy in database 180. As such,when a participant views, for example, one or more policies viaworkstation 101, for example, some policies may haveassociated/displayed therewith an indication as to the number of timesthe policy has been transferred and other policies may not. When a givenpolicy has been configured by the owner of the policy to not have suchinformation made available, the policy when viewed by a participant mayinclude some designation that this information is not available.

As indicated above, a participant may submit via a workstation 101 asearch request to obtain information on policies that meet one or moresearch criteria. According to an embodiment of the invention, a searchcriteria may include the number of times a policy has been transferred.For example, a search criteria may include any of: any policy that is inthe process of and/or has been transferred once; any policy that is inthe process of and/or has been transferred twice; any policy that is inthe process of and/or has been transferred at least “x” times; anypolicy that is in the process of and/or has been transferred more than“y” times, etc.

Designating Chain-of-Custody

According to an embodiment of the invention, a seller and/or buyerparticipant, for example, may obtain information on a first policy viaworkstation 101, for example, as discussed above and then obtain, suchas by making a request, not only an indication as to the number of timesownership of the policy has been transferred but information related toeach transfer of ownership. In other words, according to an embodimentof the invention, a participant may obtain information on a first policyand then request a “chain-of-custody” for the policy, thereby obtaininginformation on the policy that shows how the policy moved from a firstowner, to a second owner, etc., to the current owner and/or informationrelated to each transfer and/or information related to each ownership.For example, as a participant views information on a first policy viaworkstation 101, the workstation may provide the participant theability/option (e.g., via a selectable option, such as selectable option402 in FIG. 3, for example) to make a request to obtain achain-of-custody for the policy. One skilled in the art will recognizethat the participant may make the request in other fashions (and fromother graphical interfaces/displays, for example, including those shownin FIGS. 2 and 4-6). As a result of making the request, workstation 101may communicate the request (e.g., together with the universalidentifier 202 of the policy) to server 104, for example. In turn,server 104 may submit the request (e.g., by query) to database 180. Inresponse, database 180 may return to server 104 one or more pieces ofinformation associated with the chain-of-custody for that policy. Inturn, server 104 may communicate the information to workstation 101,which may then provide the information to the participant, such asthrough a graphical interface/display. One skilled in the art willrecognize that information may flow from database 180 to a participantat a workstation 101, for example, in other fashions.

As discussed above, certain information associated with a policy may beconsidered/referred to as “privacy related” information and as such, maynot be accessible to certain participants when obtaining information ona given policy. Again, such information may include the identity of theinsured, the identity of an owner of a policy, the identity of abeneficiary, the identity of a broker that is assisting/assisted inselling a policy, etc. According to various embodiments of theinvention, the chain-of-custody for a policy may or may not includecertain privacy related information (in general, the chain-of-custodymay never include, for example, information that may be used to identifythe insured of the policy).

For example, according to an embodiment of the invention, when aparticipant requests the chain-of-custody for a given policy, theparticipant may not be provided with the identity of the current ownerof the policy or with the identity of any prior owner of the policy.Similarly, the participant may not be provided with the identity of acurrent broker assisting the current owner in selling the policy or withthe identity of any prior broker that assisted a buyer and/or seller inbuying or selling the policy. As another example, the participant maynot be provided with the identity of the current beneficiary of thepolicy or with the identity of any prior beneficiary of the policy (thebeneficiary of a policy may change as a result of the policy beingtransferred), etc.

According to another embodiment of the invention, certain informationassociated with the chain-of-custody for a policy that may be consideredprivacy related information may only be considered privacy relatedinformation if associated with the current owner of the policy. Forexample, when a participant requests the chain-of-custody for a policy,the participant may not be provided with the identity of the currentowner of the policy, the identity of a current broker assisting thecurrent owner in selling the policy, the identity of the currentbeneficiary, etc. However, the participant may be provided with theidentity of one or more prior owners of the policy, the identity of oneor more prior brokers that assisted prior owners in buying and/orselling the policy, the identity of one or more prior beneficiaries,etc.

According to an embodiment of the invention, certain informationassociated with the chain-of-custody for a policy that may be consideredprivacy related information may no longer be considered privacy relatedinformation after a certain number of transfers have occurred. Forexample, assume that a policy has transferred once from an originalowner “A” to a second owner “B”. If a participant requests thechain-of-custody for the policy, the participant may not be providedwith the identity of the original owner “A” or the identity of thecurrent owner “B”. Assume now that the policy transfers again fromsecond owner “B” to a third owner “C”. If a participant now requests thechain-of-custody for the policy, the participant may not be providedwith the identity of the current owner “B”, but may now be provided withthe identity of original owner “A”.

According to an embodiment of the invention, certain informationassociated with the chain-of-custody for a policy that may be consideredprivacy related information may not be considered privacy relatedinformation after a certain period of time has passed. For example,assume again that a policy has transferred once from an original owner“A” to a second owner “B”. Assume further that a participant nowrequests the chain of custody for the policy and that relative to thisrequest, the transfer from “A” to “B” occurred within the past “X”months (e.g., relative to this request, the transfer occurred withinsome predetermined past period of time—such as some predeterminethreshold period of time, such as “X” months). Because the transferoccurred within this predetermined threshold period of time, theparticipant may not be provided with the identity of the original owner“A” or with the identity of the current owner “B”. Assume now that aparticipant requests the chain of custody for the policy and thatrelative to this request, the transfer from “A” to “B” occurred beyondthe predetermine threshold period of time (e.g., more than “X” monthsago). Because the transfer occurred beyond this predetermine thresholdperiod of time, the participant may not be provided with the identity ofthe current owner “B”, but may now be provided with the identity oforiginal owner “A”.

According to an embodiment of the invention, certain informationassociated with the chain-of-custody for a policy that may be consideredprivacy related information may not be considered privacy relatedinformation depending on the state the policy is in and/or the status ofthe policy in a given state. For example, assume that a policy is ownedby owner “A” and that owner “A” is now seeking to sell the policy.Assume further that the policy is in the pending or active/live stateand that a participant “C” now requests the chain-of-custody for thepolicy. Because the policy is in the pending or active/live state, theparticipant may not be provided with the identity of owner “A”. Assumenow that a participant “B” has purchased the policy and the policy inthe closed state and that participant “C” now requests thechain-of-custody for the policy. Because the policy is now in the closedstate, participant “C” may now be provided with the identity of owner“A”. Alternatively, participant “C” may not be provided with theidentity of owner “A” if the policy is in the process of being clearedbut may be provided with the identity of owner “A” once the policyclears.

One skilled in the art will recognize that privacy related informationin connection with the chain-of-custody of a policy may be provided to aparticipant in other fashions than those discussed herein.

According to an embodiment of the invention, the current owner of apolicy may be able to configure system 100 (such as via a graphicalinterface/display at a workstation 101 and/or via a user profile, forexample) as to the information provided to any other participant whenthat participant requests a chain-of-custody for the policy. Forexample, system 100 may be pre-configured to provide and similarly notprovide for any given policy a predefined set of information. Thecurrent owner of a policy may be able to over-ride such a configuration.For example, the default configuration may be to not provide theidentity of the current owner. The current owner may indicate that theiridentity may be provided in response to a chain-of-custody request.Similarly, the default configuration may be to not provide the identityof the current owner but to provide the identity of any prior owner ofthe policy. The current owner may indicate that the identity of eachprevious owner of the policy should not be provided in response to achain-of-custody request. As another example, the default configurationmay be to provide certain information at certain times (e.g., theprovided information may be tied to the state (e.g.,pending/active/closed) the policy is in) in response to chain-of-custodyrequest and the current owner may be able to over-ride/change thistiming. According to an embodiment of the invention, the current ownermay not be able to over-ride certain default configurations of system100, such as not allowing the identity of the insured to be provided inresponse to a chain-of-custody request.

Referring now to examples of information that may be provided to aparticipant when requesting the chain-of-custody for a policy, assuming,for example, the policy is being sold for a first time (e.g., is in thepending state awaiting start of an auction period, is in the active/livestate, or is in the closed state but has not yet cleared), in responseto a participant's request, the participant may be provided with noinformation and/or simply an indication as to the state the policy is inand the status of the policy in that state (e.g., the policy is in theclosed state and in the process of being cleared).

Alternatively, assuming the policy has/had loans and/or withdrawalsassociated therewith (as described above), the participant may beprovided with such information. For example, the participant may beprovided with:

-   1. Information related to any cash withdrawal(s) made by the current    owner from a cash account associated with the policy (e.g., the    amount of each withdrawal and the date the withdrawal was made,    and/or any other information as discussed above).-   2. Information related to any loan taken by the current owner    against a cash account associated with the policy (e.g., the amount    of each loan, the date the loan was made, whether the loan is    outstanding or has been repaid, and/or any other information    discussed above).-   3. Information related to any loan taken by the current owner that    names/named the policy as collateral (e.g., the amount of each loan,    the date the loan was made, whether the loan is outstanding or has    been repaid, and/or any other information discussed above).-   4. Information related to whether the owner has financed any    premiums of the policy.

One skilled in the art will recognize that other information asdisclosed herein, for example, may be provided.

As another example, assuming a policy has been transferred once (e.g.,in the case of selling the policy, the sale has cleared), in response toa participant requesting the chain-of-custody for the policy, theparticipant may be provided, for example, with:

-   1. The type of transaction that resulted in the transfer of    ownership, such as a sale (and in particular, the type of    sale—auction, advertisement, reverse auction, etc.), an assignment,    a devise, a bequest, etc.-   2. The identity (e.g., the name) of the transferor—here, the    original owner of the policy. Again, system 100 may withhold the    identity of the transferee—here, the current owner of the policy.-   3. The date (e.g., month, day, year, hour, minute, and/or sec, etc.)    the transfer occurred (e.g., the date the sale of the policy    cleared).-   4. If the beneficiary changed as a result of the transfer, possibly    the identity of the previous beneficiary. Again, system 100 may    withhold the identity of the beneficiary.

Assuming the transfer of ownership was the result of a sale, theparticipant requesting the chain-of-custody may also be provided, forexample, with:

-   1. The price (e.g., the winning bid amount) at which the policy    sold.-   2. The identity of any broker that may have assisted the    transferor/seller in selling the policy and possibly the    commission/amount paid to the broker.-   3. The identity of any broker that may have assisted the    transferee/buyer in buying the policy and possibly the    commission/amount paid to the broker. Alternatively, system 100 may    withhold this information.-   4. Any service fees that may have been paid (such as to system 100    and any other trading/auction/selling system) in relation to selling    the policy.-   5. In addition to the price at which the policy sold, each of the    prices (and/or range of prices) at which the seller offered to sell    the policy and/or each of the prices (and/or range of prices) at    which one or more participants offered to purchase the policy.-   6. The length of time for which the policy was for sale.

As similarly discussed above, assuming the policy has/had loans and/orwithdrawals associated therewith (as described above), the participantmay also be provided with such information including, for example:

-   1. Information related to any cash withdrawal(s) made by the current    owner and/or the previous owner from a cash account associated with    the policy.-   2. Information related to any loan taken by the current owner and/or    the previous owner against a cash account associated with the    policy.-   3. Information related to any loan taken by the current owner and/or    the previous owner that names/named the policy as collateral.-   4. Information related to whether the current owner and/or the    previous owner has financed any premiums of the policy.

One skilled in the art will again recognize that other information asdisclosed herein, for example, may be provided. One skilled in the artwill also recognize that when a policy has been transferred more thanonce, in response to a participant requesting the chain-of-custody forthe policy, the participant may be provided with any of the abovedescribed information for each transfer, for example.

As described above, one or more transfers of a given policy may haveoccurred outside system 100 and as such, system 100/database 180 mayhave full information on such transfers, limited information on suchtransfers, or no information on such transfers. As such, according to anembodiment of the invention, when a participant requests achain-of-custody for a given policy, the participant may be providedwith information related to transfers that occurred both via system 100and outside system 100. For transfers that occurred outside system 100,the participant may be provided with the same degree/extent ofinformation as provided for transfers that occurred via system 100and/or may be provided with a lesser degree of information (depending onthe extent to which system 100/database 180 has been notified of theoutside transfers). Similarly, assuming system 100 has only beennotified that a transfer occurred outside system 100 for a given policybut has not been provided with specific information on the transfer, achain-of-custody for that policy may include gaps, for example, thatsimply indicate that some transfer occurred. Similarly, assuming system100 has not been notified that a transfer occurred outside system 100for a given policy, a chain-of-custody for that policy may beincomplete.

According to an embodiment of the invention, in response to aparticipant requesting the chain-of-custody for the policy, in additionto the participant being provided with any of the information asdescribed above, the participant may also be provided (as part of thechain-of-custody) information related to any unsuccessful transfer ofownership of the policy (again, such unsuccessful transfers may haveoccurred via system 100 and/or outside system 100) including, possibly,any unsuccessful transfers by the current owner of the policy. Suchinformation may include, for example:

-   1. The type of transaction/transfer (such as a sale, an assignment,    a devise, a bequest, etc.) that was not successful.-   2. A reason(s) why the transfer was not successful (e.g., a minimum    bid was not obtained and/or any other reasons including those    discussed above).-   3. The identity (e.g., the name) of the transferor that attempted to    transfer the policy. Alternatively, system 100 may withhold the    identity of the transferor assuming for example, the transferor is    the current owner of the policy.-   4. The identity of the transferee to which the policy was not    successfully transferred.-   5. The date (e.g., month, day, year, hour, minute, and/or sec, etc.)    the attempted/unsuccessful transfer occurred.

Assuming the attempted/unsuccessful transfer of ownership was anattempted sale of the policy, the participant requesting thechain-of-custody may also be provided, for example, with:

-   1. The price at which a transferor and transferee may have agreed to    transfer the policy (albeit, unsuccessful).-   2. The identity of any broker that may have assisted the    transferor/seller in attempting to sell the policy and possibly the    commission the broker did receive and/or would have received if the    transfer had been successful.-   3. The identity of any broker that may have assisted the    transferee/buyer in attempting to buy the policy and possibly the    commission the broker did receive and/or would have received if the    transfer had been successful.-   4. Any service fees that may have been paid (such as to system 100    and any other trading/auction/selling system) in relation to    attempting to sell the policy.-   5. Each of the prices (and/or range of prices) at which the seller    offered to sell the policy and/or each of the prices (and/or range    of prices) at which one or more participants offered to purchase the    policy.-   6. The length of time for which the policy was for sale.

One skilled in the art will recognize that other information asdisclosed herein, for example, may be provided.

According to various embodiments of the invention, a participant may beprovided with the chain-of-custody for a requested policy in variousfashions. For example, the chain-of-custody may be provided to theparticipant as part of a graphical interface/display, with each transfershown/arranged in a vertical fashion from the most recent transfer tooldest transfer (or vise versa). As another example, thechain-of-custody may be provided to the participant as part of agraphical interface/display, with each transfer shown/arranged in ahorizontal fashion, such as in a timeline like fashion. Each transfermay be displayed with a minimal set of information, allowing theparticipant to then select any given transfer and thereby “expand” theselected transfer to show additional information. One skilled in the artwill recognize that the information may be provided to a participant inother fashions.

Rate at which a Policy is Transferred

According to an embodiment of the invention, a seller and/or buyerparticipant, for example, may obtain information on a first policy viaworkstation 101, for example, as discussed above and then obtain, suchas by making a request (e.g., via a selectable option as similarlydiscussed above), a limited set of information related to thechain-of-custody for the policy and in particular, only informationrelated to successful sales of the policy (e.g., information related tounsuccessful transfers and to transfers other than sales/auctions/etc.may be excluded).

According to another embodiment of the invention, the informationprovided to the participant may be further limited and include, forexample, for each successful sale of the policy the date/time (e.g.,month, day, year, hour, minute, and/or sec, etc.) the policy sold (e.g.,cleared) and the price (e.g., the agreed upon sale price and/or thewinning bid amount and/or the price minus any broker and/or system fees)at which the policy sold. As an example, such information may beprovided via a workstation 101 to a participant as a chart, with eachrow of the chart, for example, including the date/time the policy soldand the price at which the policy sold on that date. The chart may beordered in chronological order and/or based on the size of the saleprices (descending/ascending order). As another example, suchinformation may be provided via a workstation 101 to a participant as adisplayed graph, with one axis representing the dates/times the policysold and another axis representing the prices at which the policy sold.In this fashion, a participant may be able to determine the rate atwhich a given policy is being purchased and sold and the price changeover time. According to another embodiment of the invention, thedate/time and the price information for each of the sales may bemathematically combined into a single numerical value, such as anaverage. Such computations may be performed by server 104 and/orworkstations 101 and/or a combination thereof.

According to a further embodiment of the invention, the informationprovided to the participant may be even further limited and include, forexample, for each successful sale of the policy only the date/time(e.g., month, day, year, hour, minute, and/or sec, etc.) the policy sold(e.g., cleared). Again, in this fashion, a participant may be able todetermine the rate at which a given policy is being purchased and soldor in other words, the rate at which a policy is changing hands.

One skilled in the art will recognize that information (e.g., date/timeand/or price) associated with the rate at which a policy is beingpurchased and sold may be obtained by a participant as a result of theparticipant requesting the information (e.g., via a selectable option asimilarly discussed above). As another example, such information may beprovided to a participant as part of different request. For example,such information may be provided to a participant when the participantrequests the chain-of-custody for a policy, when the participantrequests additional information on a given policy (e.g., as shown inFIG. 3), as part of an interface that allows a participant to bid on apolicy, etc.

Rate at which a Policy is Bid Upon

According to an embodiment of the invention, a seller and/or buyerparticipant, for example, may obtain information on a first policy viaworkstation 101, for example, as discussed above and then obtain, suchas by making a request (e.g., via a selectable option as similarlydiscussed above), a limited set of information related to a particularsale of a policy. In particular, according to an embodiment of theinvention, a participant may obtain for a given sale of a policy each ofthe prices at which the seller offered to sell the policy (assuming theseller changed the price) and/or the date/time (e.g., month, day, year,hour, minute, and/or sec, etc.) at which the various prices were set.Alternatively (and/or in addition), a participant may obtain for a givensale of a policy each of the prices (e.g., bids) at which a buyer(s)offered to purchase the policy and/or the date/time (e.g., month, day,year, hour, minute, and/or sec, etc.) at which the various offers weremade. Such information may be provided for a particular sale of a givenpolicy that has already occurred. Alternatively and/or in addition, suchinformation may be provided for a current sale of a policy. Inparticular, according to an embodiment of the invention, a participantmay obtain for a policy that is currently being auctioned via system 100(i.e., for a policy that is in the active/live state) each of the bidamounts that have been submitted by buyer participants and/or thedates/times (e.g., month, day, year, hour, minute, and/or sec, etc.) atwhich the bids were submitted.

As similarly described above, such date/time and price/bid informationmay be provided via a workstation 101 to a participant as a chart, witheach row of the chart, for example, including an offered sale and/orpurchase/bid price and the date/time the offer was made. The chart maybe ordered by time and/or the size of the various offered prices. Asanother example, such information may be provided via a workstation 101to a participant as a displayed graph, with one axis representing thedates/times the offered sale and/or purchase/bid prices were made andanother axis representing the corresponding offered prices. According toanother embodiment of the invention, the date/time and the priceinformation for a given sale may be mathematically combined into asingle numerical value, such as an average. Such computations may beperformed by server 104 and/or workstations 101 and/or a combinationthereof.

One skilled in the art will recognize that date/time and/or priceinformation associated with a particular sale of a given policy may beobtained by a participant as a result of the participant requesting theinformation (e.g., via a selectable option as similarly discussedabove). As another example, such information may be provided to aparticipant as part of a different request. For example, suchinformation may be provided to a participant when the participantrequests the chain-of-custody for a policy, when the participantrequests additional information on a given policy (e.g., as shown inFIG. 3), etc. As another example, as part of an interface provided by aworkstation 101 that allows a participant to bid on an active/livepolicy, system 100 may provide to the participant a chart and/or graph,for example, that shows the bids submitted thus far and the date/timeeach bid was submitted.

Filtering Out Unwanted Policies

In various circumstances and/or for various reasons, a seller and/orbuyer participant, for example, may want to disregard a given policy(e.g., not view a given policy, not obtain information on a givenpolicy, and/or not buy a given policy) because the policy has one ormore characteristics. For example, a participant may not want to buy apolicy because the insured of the policy is a particular person, becausethe insured of the policy is related to a particular person, because thebroker assisting in selling the policy is a particular person and/orentity, because the owner of the policy is a particular person and/orentity, etc. However, as discussed above, such information for a policymay be considered/referred to as “privacy related” information and assuch, may not be accessible to certain participants when obtaininginformation on the policy. As such, a participant may not be able topurposely disregard (e.g., not buy) a given policy by merely obtainingand viewing information on the policy because the information that theparticipant needs to make such a decision is not available to theparticipant.

According to an embodiment of the invention, a participant may establisha profile, for example, such as via a workstation 101, setting forth oneor more characteristics of policies such that if a policy has thedesignated characteristic(s), the participant may disregard the policy.According to an embodiment of the invention, the one or morecharacteristics may be related to privacy related information.Thereafter, prior to policies being made available to a participant viaworkstation 101 for example, the policies may be compared to (orfiltered through) the participant's profile (such as by server 104and/or workstation 101) and if there is a match between one or morecharacteristics set forth in the profile and a policy, the matchingpolicy may be “filtered out” and thereby not made available to theparticipant (i.e., thereby allowing the participant to disregard thepolicy). By having the policies compared to (or filtered through) theparticipant's profile, the polices may be disregarded by the participantwithout revealing to the participant privacy related information, forexample.

As an example, a participant may establish as part of the profile:

-   1. The identification (e.g., name, social security number, etc.) of    one or more insured (or possible insured) of insurance policies,    thereby designating/indicating that the participant wishes to    disregard any policy in which the insured of that policy corresponds    to any those set forth in the profile.-   2. The identification (e.g., name, social security number, etc.) of    one or more particular persons, thereby designating\indicating that    the participant wishes to disregard any policy in which the insured    of that policy is related to any of the one or more particular    persons.-   3. The identification of one or more particular brokers (or possible    brokers), thereby designating\indicating that the participant wishes    to disregard any policy that is currently being sold through the    assistance of a broker and in which the broker corresponds to any    broker set forth in the profile.-   4. The identification of one or more particular owners (or possible    owners) of insurance policies (e.g., the identification of one or    more seller participants), thereby designating\indicating that the    participant wishes to disregard any policy in which the current    owner (e.g., seller participant) of the policy corresponds to any    those set forth in the profile.-   5. The identification of one or more particular beneficiaries (or    possible beneficiaries) of insurance policies, thereby    designating\indicating that the participant wishes to disregard any    policy in which the current beneficiary of the policy corresponds to    any those set forth in the profile.

One skilled in the art will recognize that other characteristics may beset forth in a profile.

According to various embodiments of the invention, a participant mayestablish a profile via a workstation 101 (e.g., through a graphicalinterface/display), which profile may then be stored as a permanentfile, for example, at workstation 101 that is in use by the participantand/or at server 104 (e.g., at database 180 and/or computer readablemedium 115), for example. Accordingly, the participant's profile mayexist beyond each use of system 100 by the participant (e.g., such aswhen the participant logouts of and/or ceases using system 100). Asanother example, a participant's profile may be set forth as aconfiguration of system 100, for example, which configuration theparticipant may establish each time the participant uses system 100(e.g., each time a participant logs into and/or begins using system 100)and which exists only for the duration of that use. For example, theparticipant may set forth the configuration via a graphicalinterface/display provided by workstation 101.

According to an embodiment of the invention, whether a participant'sprofile is created as a permanent file and/or a temporary configuration,server 104, for example, may filter out policies on behalf of aparticipant that the participant wishes to disregard. For example, asdiscussed above, a participant may submit via a workstation 101 arequest to obtain information on one or more policies (e.g., a searchrequest with one or more search criteria—for example, all policies in agiven state, all policies for which the insured is of a given age,etc.). For example, assuming the participant submits a search request,workstation 101 may communicate the request (together with the searchcriteria) to server 104, for example, which may in turn submit thesearch request (e.g., query) to database 180. In response, database 180may return to server 104 one or more pieces of information for eachpolicy matching the search criteria including, for example, privacyrelated information. In turn, server 104 may compare the policies to theparticipant's profile (i.e., filter the policies through the profilecomparing, for example, privacy related information to the one or morecharacteristics set forth in the profile) and then remove from thepolicies any policy for which there is a match between one or morecharacteristics set forth in the profile and the policy. According toanother embodiment of the invention, server 104 may submit the searchrequest to database 180 such that the request includes the one or morecharacteristics from the participant's profile, thereby having database180 not obtain any policy for which there is a match between one or morecharacteristics set forth in the profile and the policy. Regardless ofhow the policies may be filtered out, server 104 may thereafter provideinformation (minus privacy related information, for example) on theremaining policies to workstation 101, which may then provide theinformation to the participant, such as through a graphicalinterface/display. Accordingly, those policies that the participantwishes to disregard are removed by system 100 and not provided to theparticipant. In addition, the disregarded policies are removed withoutrevealing to the participant privacy related information, for example.According to an embodiment of the invention, server 104 may provide toworkstation 101 the number of policies that were removed as a result ofthe participant's profile, which number may also be provided to theparticipant.

As another example, when a participant requests policies that may berelated to a first policy (as discussed above), server 104 (e.g., afterobtaining the related policies) may also compare, for example, the“related” policies to the participant's profile, removing from therelated policies any policy having characteristics corresponding to oneor more characteristics set forth in the participant's profile.

According to another embodiment of the invention, whether aparticipant's profile is created as a permanent file and/or a temporaryconfiguration, a workstation 101 that is in use by a participant, forexample, may filter out policies that the participant wishes todisregard. As similarly discussed above, a participant may submit viathe workstation a request to obtain information on one or more policies(e.g., a search request with one or more search criteria, or a requestto obtain related policies, etc.). For example, assuming the participantsubmits a search request, the workstation may communicate the searchrequest to server 104, for example, which may in turn submit the searchrequest (e.g., query) to database 180. In response, database 180 mayreturn to server 104 one or more pieces of information for each policythat matches the search criteria including, for example, privacy relatedinformation. In turn, server 104 may thereafter provide the informationon the obtained policies to the workstation. Thereafter, the workstationmay compare the returned policies to the participant's profile (i.e.,filter the policies through the profile comparing, for example, privacyrelated information to the one or more characteristics set forth in theprofile) and then remove from the policies any policy for which there isa match between one or more characteristics set forth in theparticipant's profile and the policy. The workstation may then provideinformation on the remaining policies to the participant, such asthrough a graphical interface/display, removing, however, any privacyrelated information. Similar to above, the workstation may also provideto the participant the number of policies that were removed as a resultof the participant's profile.

One skilled in the art will recognize that policies havingcharacteristics corresponding to one or more characteristics set forthin a participant's profile may be “filtered out” in fashions other thanthose discussed above, including through a combination of server 104 anda workstation 101.

One skilled in the art will also recognize that a participant's profilefor designating characteristics and thereby policies the participantwishes to disregard may bet set forth in fashions other than thosediscussed above. For example, each time a participant makes a requestvia a workstation 101, for example, to obtain and/or view policies(e.g., via a search request), the participant may designate one or morecharacteristics and thereby policies the participant wishes to disregardwith respect to that request. For example, assuming server 104 providesthe filtering, the workstation 101 may forward the designated one ormore characteristics along with the request to server 104 such thatserver 104 may perform the filtering. Alternatively, assuming theworkstation in use by a participant provides the filtering, theworkstation may forward the request to server 104 and then uponreceiving policies from server 104 in response to the request, use thedesignated one or more characteristics to filter the policies. Again,one skilled in the art will recognize that other variations arepossible.

As discussed above, the one or more characteristics a participant maydesignate as part of the participant's profile, for example, mayinclude/correspond to policy information that may be considered/referredto as “privacy related” information. Nonetheless, one skilled in the artwill also recognize that the designated characteristics may alsoinclude/correspond to information that the participant could readilyobtain/view once obtaining a policy (e.g., the gender of an insured).

As discussed above, the one or more characteristics a participant maydesignate as part of the participant's profile, for example, mayinclude/correspond to current policy information. According to anotherembodiment of the invention, the one or more characteristics aparticipant may designate as part of the participant's profile mayinclude/correspond to non-current policy information. For example, asdiscussed above a participant may establish as part of the profile theidentification of one or more owners (or possible owners) of policies,thereby designating\indicating that the participant wishes to disregardany policy in which the “current” owner of the policy corresponds to anythose set forth in the profile. According to an embodiment of theinvention, a participant may also (and/or alternatively) establish aspart of the profile the identification of one or more owners (orpossible owners) of policies, thereby designating\indicating that theparticipant wishes to disregard any policy in which an owner that ownedthat policy at any time corresponds to any those set forth in theprofile. As another example, a participant may establish as part of theprofile the identification of one or more brokers (or possible brokers),thereby designating\indicating that the participant wishes to disregardany policy in which a broker that assisted in the buying and/or sellingof that policy at any time corresponds to any those set forth in theprofile. One skilled in the art will recognize that other examples arepossible.

Assuming, for example, that a participant may designate one or morecharacteristics as a profile (e.g., as a permanent file and/or systemconfiguration) as discussed above, according to another embodiment ofthe invention, system 100 may limit how often/how frequently theparticipant may alter the profile, for example. For example, aparticipant may be limited to modifying the profile to “y” times every“x” months, days, hours, and/or minutes, etc. and/or may be limited tomodifying the profile to only “z” times per use of system 100 (e.g.,once per user-session of system 100, where a user session may be thetime between a participant logging into and out of system 100, forexample). As another example, the participant may be limited tomodifying a given characteristic set forth in a profile to “y” timesevery “x” months, days, hours, and/or minutes, etc. and/or may belimited to modifying a given characteristic to only “z” times per use ofsystem 100. According to another embodiment of the invention, once aparticipant alters a profile and/or characteristic of the profile, thenew profile (and/or modified characteristic) may not go into effectuntil a certain amount of time (e.g., “x” months, days, hours, and/orminutes, etc.) has passed. Once skilled in the art will recognize thatother variations may be used including a combination of limiting thefrequency in which a participant may alter a profile and controllingwhen an altered profile goes into effect.

Assuming, for example, that a participant may designate one or morecharacteristics as part of a request as discussed above, according toanother embodiment of the invention, system 100 may limit how often/howfrequently the participant may designate such characteristics. Forexample, a participant may be limited to making requests for policies inwhich the requests include designated characteristics to “y” times every“x” months, days, hours, and/or minutes, etc. and/or may be limited toincluding designated characteristics in requests to only “z” times peruse of system 100. As another example, a participant may be limited toincluding a given characteristic in requests for policies to “y” timesevery “x” months, days, hours, and/or minutes, etc. and/or may belimited to including a given characteristic in requests to only “z”times per use of system 100. Once skilled in the art will recognize thatother variations may be used.

Third Party Filtering Out of Unwanted Policies

As discussed above, a seller and/or buyer participant, for example, maywant to disregard a given policy (e.g., not view a given policy, notobtain information on a given policy, and/or not buy a given policy)because the policy has one or more characteristics. For example, a buyerparticipant may not want to buy a policy because the insured of thepolicy is a particular person, because the insured of the policy isrelated to a particular person, because the broker assisting in sellinga policy is a particular person and/or entity, because the owner of apolicy is a particular person and/or entity, etc. However, as discussedabove, such information for a policy may be considered/referred to as“privacy related” information and as such, may not be accessible tocertain participants when obtaining information on the policy. Accordingto an embodiment of the invention as discussed above, a participant mayestablish a profile, for example, setting forth one or morecharacteristics of policies (e.g., characteristics pertaining to privacyrelated information) such that if a policy has the designatedcharacteristic(s), the participant may disregard the policy. As furtherdiscussed above, server 104 for example, may use such a profile tofilter out policies that the participant wishes to disregard prior toproviding such policies to the participant. Nonetheless, there may bevarious situations and/or reasons where a participant does not wish todisclose to server 104 for example the characteristic(s) and therebypolicies that the participant wishes to disregard.

According to another embodiment of the invention as also discussedabove, rather than server 104, for example, using a participant'sprofile to filter out policies that the participant wishes to disregard,a workstation 101 in use by the participant may receive informationincluding, for example, privacy related information on one or morepolicies from server 104, use the profile to filter out from thesepolicies any policy the participant may wish to disregard, and thenprovide information (minus the privacy related information) on theremaining policies to the participant. Nonetheless, there may be varioussituations and/or reasons where a system 100/server 104, for example(and/or an operator thereof, for example), may not want to send/provideto workstation 101 such privacy related information.

Referring now to FIG. 7, there is shown an electronic trading system 700according to an embodiment of the invention for transferring insurancepolicies. System 700 is similar to system 100 and further includesfiltering server (or “third-party” filtering server) 704. Filteringserver 704 may be connected to server 104 and one or more workstations101 directly and/or through one or more communications networks, such asnetwork 102. As further discussed below, at least a portion of thecommunications between a workstation 101 and server 104 may occurthrough server 704. As shown, not all workstations (such as workstation101 a) may be connected to/have access to server 704. In addition,system 700 may include more than one server 704, such that at least aportion of the communications between a first workstation 101 and server104 may occur through a first server 704 and least a portion of thecommunications between a second workstation 101 and server 104 may occurthrough a second server 704, for example.

In general, server 704 may be any general purpose or special purposecomputing device and in particular, may be any suitable server,processor, computer, mainframe computer, computing device, dataprocessing device, and/or any combination thereof. As shown in FIG. 7,server 704 may include one or more processors 711, a memory 714, and oneor more applications 716, which may be operable to providing filteringservices as further disclosed herein. Applications 716 may be embodiedas computing instructions including, for example, one or more softwaremodules that reside in memory 714 and execute there from on processor711 and/or one or more firmware and/or hardware modules. Server 704 mayalso include one or more communications modules 718 for interfacing withand communicating over communications network(s) 102 (and possibly othercommunications networks not shown) and for transmitting and/or receivinginformation to/from workstations 101 and server 104. Server 704 may alsoinclude a computer readable medium 715 (e.g., disk drive) for storingapplications 716, for example, and/or participant profiles, for example,as further disclosed herein. Server 704 may also include at least oneoutput device 717 and at least one input device 713, which devices maybe used for example, by an administrator. Server 704 may also include atleast one biometric input device 719 for entering biometric information,such as a fingerprint, to gain access to server 704, such as by anadministrator. While server 704 is shown as a single server, one skilledin the art will recognize that server 704 may include a plurality ofservers, including redundant/backup servers. According to an embodimentof the invention, server 704 may, at least in part, be a web server,such as an http (hypertext transfer protocol) web server.

According to an embodiment of the invention and as similarly discussedabove, a participant may establish a profile, such as via a workstation101, setting forth one or more characteristics of policies such that ifa policy has the designated characteristic(s), the participant maydisregard the policy. According to a further aspect of an embodiment ofthe invention, prior to policies being made available to a participantvia a workstation 101 for example, server 704 may compare the policiesto the participant's profile (e.g., filter the policies through theprofile comparing, for example, privacy related information to the oneor more characteristics set forth in the profile) and based at least inpart on determining that there is a match between one or morecharacteristics set forth in the profile and a given policy,remove/filter-out such policies. Thereafter, server 704 may provide anyremaining policies to the workstation 101, which may provide theremaining policies to the participant, such as through a graphicalinterface/display.

More specifically, according to an embodiment of the invention, aparticipant may establish a profile via a workstation 101 (e.g., througha graphical interface/display), which profile may then be stored as apermanent file, for example, at server 704 for example (as a database,for example, within computer-readable medium 715, for example), and/orwhich profile may be stored as a permanent file at workstation 101 andtransferred to server 704 at the start a participant's use of system 700(e.g., when a participant logs into and/or begins using system 700) forexample, etc. Alternatively and/or in addition, a participant mayestablish a profile separate from workstation 101 and/or server 104,such as through direct communications with server 704, which profile maythen be stored as a permanent file, for example, at server 704 (as adatabase, for example, within computer-readable medium 715, forexample). Accordingly, the participant's profile may exist beyond eachuse of system 700 by the participant. According to another embodiment ofthe invention, a participant may establish a profile as a configurationof a system 700, for example, which configuration the participant mayestablish each time the participant uses system 700 (e.g., each time aparticipant logs into and/or begins using system 700) and which existsonly for the duration of that use. For example, the participant may setforth the configuration via a graphical interface/display provided byworkstation 101 (and/or by server 704—e.g., via a web interface), whichconfiguration may then be forwarded to server 704 (and stored therein asa database, for example, within computer-readable medium 715, forexample). One skilled in the art will recognize that a participant'sprofile for designating characteristics and thereby policies theparticipant wishes to disregard may bet set forth in fashions other thanthose discussed above.

Assuming a participant has established a profile, as similarly discussedabove a participant may submit via a workstation 101 a request to obtaininformation on one or more policies (e.g., a search request with one ormore search criteria—for example, all policies in a given state, allpolicies for which the insured is of a given age, etc.—and/or a requestto obtain related policies, etc.). Assuming the participant submits asearch request, according to an embodiment of the invention, workstation101 may communicate the request (together with the search criteria) toserver 104, for example, either directly, or via server 704, which maythen forward the request to server 104. In turn, server 104 may submitthe search request (e.g., query) to database 180, which may then returnto server 104 one or more pieces of information for each policy matchingthe search criteria. According to an embodiment of the invention,included in this information may be one or more pieces of privacyrelated information (accordingly, the information may include, forexample, first information such as policy profile information and secondinformation such as privacy related information). In turn, server 104may thereafter provide the information (including the privacy relatedinformation) on the obtained policies to server 704. Thereafter, server704 may compare the returned policies (e.g., various aspects of theprivacy related information) to the participant's profile (i.e., filterthe policies through the profile comparing, for example, privacy relatedinformation to the one or more characteristics set forth in the profile)and then based at least in part on determining there is a match betweenone or more characteristics set forth in the participant's profile and agiven policy, remove/filter-out from the policies any such policy.Server 704 may then provide information on the remaining policies (minusany privacy related information) to workstation 101, which may thenprovide the information to the participant, such as through a graphicalinterface/display. Accordingly, those policies that the participantwishes to disregard are removed by server 704 and not provided to theparticipant. In addition, the disregarded policies are removed withoutrevealing to the participant and/or workstation 101 privacy relatedinformation. Similarly, the disregarded policies are removed withoutrevealing to server 104 (and possibly workstation 101) for example, thecharacteristic(s) (e.g., the identifications of insured individuals) andthereby the policies that the participant wishes to disregard. Accordingto an embodiment of the invention, server 704 may provide to workstation101 the number of policies that were removed as a result of theparticipant's profile, which number may also be provided to theparticipant.

According to an embodiment of the invention, if a participant has notestablished a profile, a workstation 101 may forward any request fromthe participant directly to server 104, for example, and/or similarly,server 104 may forward any obtained policies (minus privacy relatedinformation) directly to workstation 101. Alternatively, such requestsfor policies may continue to go from a workstation 101 to server 704 andthen to server 104 and/or similarly, from server 104 to server 704, andthen to workstation 101 (minus privacy related information).

According to an embodiment of the invention, whether a participant hasor has not established a profile, communications other than requests forpolicy information between a workstation 101 and server 104 may or maynot proceed through server 704. For example, requests to purchase apolicy (e.g., submitted bids) and any responses thereto between aworkstation 101 and server 104 may or may not proceed through server 704(as represented by network 102 a in FIG. 7).

According to an embodiment of the invention, system 700 may limit howoften/how frequently the participant may alter a profile, for example.For example, a participant may be limited to modifying the profile to“y” times every “x” months, days, hours, and/or minutes, etc. and/or maybe limited to modifying the profile to only “z” times per use of system700 (e.g., once per user-session of system 700). As another example, theparticipant may be limited to modifying a given characteristic set forthin a profile to “y” times every “x” months, days, hours, and/or minutes,etc. and/or may be limited to modifying a given characteristic to only“z” times per use of system 700. According to another embodiment of theinvention, once a participant alters a profile and/or characteristic ofthe profile, the new profile (and/or modified characteristic) may not gointo effect until a certain amount of time (e.g., “x” months, days,hours, and/or minutes, etc.) has passed. Once skilled in the art willrecognize that other variations may be used including a combination oflimiting the frequency in which a participant may alter a profile andcontrolling when an altered profile goes into effect.

According to another embodiment of the invention, rather than (and/or inaddition to) a participant establishing a profile (e.g., as a permanentfile and/or as a configuration of system 700) setting forth one or morecharacteristics and thereby policies that the participant wishes todisregard, as the participant makes a request to obtain information onone or more policies (e.g., a search request with one or more searchcriteria, and/or a request to obtain related policies, etc.), theparticipant may designate one or more characteristics and therebypolicies the participant wishes to disregard with respect to thatrequest. For example, according to an embodiment of the invention, aparticipant may submit via a workstation 101 a search request thatincludes one or more search criteria and one or more characteristics andthereby policies that the participant wishes to disregard. Thereafter,the workstation may communicate the request (together with the searchcriteria and characteristic(s)) to server 704, which may remove thedesignated characteristic(s) from the request and then forward thesearch request and the search criteria to server 104. In turn, server104 may submit the search request (e.g., query) to database 180, whichmay then return to server 104 one or more pieces of information for eachpolicy matching the search criteria including, for example, one or morepieces of privacy related information. In turn, server 104 maythereafter provide the information (including the privacy relatedinformation) on the obtained policies to server 704. Thereafter, server704 may compare the returned policies (e.g., various aspects of theprivacy related information) to the participant's designatedcharacteristics (i.e., filter the policies against the characteristics)and based at least in part on determining that there is a match betweenone or more characteristics and a given policy, remove/filter-out fromthe policies any such policy. Server 704 may then provide information onthe remaining policies (minus any privacy related information) toworkstation 101, which may then provide the information to theparticipant, such as through a graphical interface/display. Again,server 704 may also provide to workstation 101 the number of policiesthat were removed as a result of the participant's designatedcharacteristics, which number may also be provided to the participant.

According to an embodiment of the invention, if a request does notinclude any designated characteristics, a workstation 101 may forwardthe request directly to server 104, for example, and/or similarly,server 104 may forward any obtained policies (minus privacy relatedinformation) directly to workstation 101. Alternatively, such requestsfor policies may continue to go from a workstation 101 to server 704 andthen to server 104 and/or similarly, from server 104 to server 704, andthen to workstation 101 (minus privacy related information). Similarly,according to an embodiment of the invention, communications other thanrequests for policy information between a workstation 101 and server 104may or may not proceed through server 704.

According to an embodiment of the invention, system 700 may limit howoften/how frequently a participant may submit requests for policyinformation that include designated characteristics. For example, aparticipant may be limited to making requests for policies in which therequests include designated characteristics to “y” times every “x”months, days, hours, and/or minutes, etc. and/or may be limited toincluding designated characteristics in requests to only “z” times peruse of system 700. As another example, a participant may be limited toincluding a given characteristic in requests for policies to “y” timesevery “x” months, days, hours, and/or minutes, etc. and/or may belimited to including a given characteristic in requests to only z timesper use of system 100. Once skilled in the art will recognize that othervariations may be used.

As similarly discussed above, the one or more characteristics aparticipant may designate as part of a profile and/or request, forexample, may include/correspond to policy information that may beconsidered/referred to as “privacy related” information and similarly,may also/alternatively include/correspond to information that theparticipant could readily obtain/view once obtaining a policy (e.g., thegender of an insured).

As similarly discussed above, the one or more characteristics aparticipant may designate as part of the participant's profile and/or asa part of a request, for example, may include/correspond to currentpolicy information. According to another embodiment of the invention,the one or more characteristics a participant may designate as part ofthe participant's profile and/or as a part of a request mayinclude/correspond to non-current policy information. For example, assimilarly discussed above a participant may establish as part of theprofile the identification of one or more owners (or possible owners) ofpolicies, thereby designating\indicating that the participant wishes todisregard any policy in which the “current” owner of the policycorresponds to any those set forth in the profile. According to anembodiment of the invention, a participant may also (and/oralternatively) establish as part of the profile the identification ofone or more owners (or possible owners) of policies, therebydesignating\indicating that the participant wishes to disregard anypolicy in which an owner that owned that policy at any time correspondsto any those set forth in the profile. As another example, a participantmay establish as part of the profile the identification of one or morebrokers (or possible brokers), thereby designating\indicating that theparticipant wishes to disregard any policy in which a broker thatassisted in the buying and/or selling of that policy at any timecorresponds to any those set forth in the profile. One skilled in theart will recognize that other examples are possible.

According to an embodiment of the embodiment of the invention, server704 may be physically separate from any of workstations 101 and server104. In addition, server 704 may be owned and/or operated by an entityseparate from an entity that may own and/or operate server 104 andseparate from any entity that may use and/or own and/or operateworkstations 101, for example, to transfer policies. According to anembodiment of the invention, server 704 may be a trusted server in that:

-   1. An operator of server 104, for example, trusts transferring    privacy related information to server 704 without concern that    server 704 may transfer such information to a workstation 101, for    example, and/or a participant user thereof; and-   2. A participant user of a workstation 101, for example, trusts    transferring profile/designated characteristics to server 704    without concern that server 704 may transfer such profile/designated    characteristics to server 104, for example.

Not Allowing a Policy to be Transferred to Certain Participants

According to an embodiment of the invention, a seller participant, forexample, may not want to transfer/sell a given policy to a particularbuyer participant because the buyer participant is a particularindividual and/or entity to which the seller participant does not wantto transfer/sell the policy, for example, and/or because the buyerparticipant is a particular broker (assisting an individual and/orentity in obtaining policies) through which the seller participant doesnot want to transfer/sell the policy, for example, etc. According to anembodiment of the invention, a seller participant that istransferring/selling a policy via system 100 (and similarly system 700)may designate the identification (e.g., name) of one or more buyerparticipants (and similarly brokers), for example, to which the sellerparticipant does not want to transfer/sell the policy.

For example, according to various embodiments of the invention, a sellerparticipant may establish a profile via a workstation 101 (e.g., througha graphical interface/display) for example, setting forth theidentification of one or more participants to which the sellerparticipant does not want to sell a policy. The profile may be a generalprofile that corresponds to any policy being sold by the sellerparticipant. Alternatively, the profile may be specific to a givenpolicy being sold by the seller participant. The profile may be storedas a permanent file, for example, at server 104 (e.g., at database 180and/or computer readable medium 115), for example. As another example,as a seller participant submits a policy to system 100 for sale, forexample, the participant may designate via workstation 101 (e.g.,through a graphical interface/display) the identification of one or morebuyer participants to which the seller participant does not want to sellthe policy. Such identification(s) may be maintained with the policy,such as in database 180. One skilled in the art will recognize that aseller participant may designate the identification of one or more buyerparticipants in fashions other than those discussed above.

According to an embodiment of the invention, a buyer participant maysubmit via a workstation 101 a request to obtain information on one ormore policies (e.g., a search request with one or more search criteria,or a request to obtain related policies), as similarly discussed above.For example, assuming the buyer participant submits a search request,the workstation may communicate the search request to server 104, forexample, which may in turn submit the search request (e.g., query) todatabase 180. In response, database 180 may return to server 104 one ormore pieces of information for each policy matching the search criteria.In turn, server 104 may determine for a given policy whether a sellerparticipant (e.g., owner) of that policy has designated theidentification of one or more buyer participants to which the sellerparticipant does not want to sell the policy (e.g., server 104 mayreview a profile and/or review information associated with a policy asobtained from database 180). Assuming the seller participant of a policyhas designated the identification of one or more buyer participants,server 104 may next determine whether the buyer participant thatsubmitted the search request is one of the designated participants.Assuming the buyer participant is one of the designated participants,server 104 may proceed in various fashions. For example, server 104 mayremove (filter out) the policy from the search results and maythereafter provide information on the remaining policies to workstation101, which may then provide the information to the buyer participant,such as through a graphical display. As another example, server 104 maymark the policy in some fashion and then provide information on thispolicy and other policies resulting from the search to workstation 101,which may then provide the information to the participant, such asthrough a graphical interface/display. However, as a result of the onepolicy, for example, being marked, workstation 101 may cause the policyto be displayed, for example, to the participant in such a fashion suchthat the participant readily recognizes that the participant may notpurchase the policy. For example, the policy may be displayed in aparticular font and/or color and/or have associated therewith aparticular indicator. As another and/or additional example, the policymay be displayed to the buyer participant in such a fashion thatprevents the buyer participant from purchasing the policy (e.g., fromsubmitting a bid). For example, the mechanism (e.g., interface) server104 and/or workstation 101 would normally provided to a participant topurchase the policy may not be made available and/or made operable tothe buyer participant via workstation 101. As another example, inresponse to submitting a request to purchase the policy, the workstationmay present a notification, such as an error message, to the buyerparticipant and not forward the request to server 104. As a furtherand/or additional example, in response to submitting a request topurchase the policy, the workstation may forward the request to server104, which may again determine that the participant is not allowed topurchase the policy, and thereby deny the request and cause workstation101 to present a notification, such as an error message, to the buyerparticipant. One skilled in the art will recognize that server 104and/or workstation 101 may cause a policy to be presented to the buyerparticipant in other fashions such that the buyer participant mayreadily recognize that the participant may not purchase the policy andsimilarly, that server 104 and/or workstation 101 may cause a policy tonot be purchasable by a participant in other fashions.

According to another embodiment of the invention, all policies may bepresented to a buyer participant in such a fashion that the buyerparticipant is not readily able to determine whether the buyerparticipant may purchase the policy. Accordingly, the buyer participantmay submit via a workstation 101 a request to purchase a policy (e.g., abid request), as similarly discussed above. In response, the workstationmay communicate the purchase request to server 104, for example. Priorto recording the bid, for example, from the purchaser, server 104 maydetermine for the given policy whether the seller participant (e.g.,owner) of that policy has designated the identification of one or morebuyer participants to which the seller participant does not want to sellthe policy (e.g., server 104 may review a profile and/or reviewinformation obtained from database 180). Assuming the seller participantof a policy has designated the identification of one or more buyerparticipants, server 104 may next determine whether the buyerparticipant that submitted the bid is one of the designatedparticipants. Assuming the buyer participant is one of the designatedparticipants, server 104 may deny the purchase request and causeworkstation 101 to present a notification, such as an error message, tothe buyer participant indicating that the buyer participant may notpurchase the policy.

According to another embodiment of the invention, the above describedfeatures/functions may be provided by a server 704. For example, aseller participant may establish a profile via a workstation 101 forexample, setting forth the identification of one or more participants towhich the seller participant does not want to sell a policy. The profilemay be a general profile that corresponds to any policy being sold bythe seller participant. Alternatively, the profile may be specific to agiven policy being sold by the seller participant. The profile may bestored as a permanent file, for example, at server 704, for example. Asanother example, as a seller participant submits a policy to system 100for sale, for example, the participant may designate via workstation 101the identification of one or more buyer participants to which the sellerparticipant does not want to sell the policy. Such identification(s) maybe maintained with the policy, such as in database 180. According to anembodiment of the invention, a buyer participant may submit via aworkstation 101 a request to obtain information on one or more policies,as similarly discussed above. For example, assuming the buyerparticipant submits a search request, the workstation may communicatethe search request either directly, or via server 704, for example, toserver 104, for example, which may in turn submit the search request(e.g., query) to database 180. In response, database 180 may return toserver 104 one or more pieces of information for each policy matchingthe search criteria (which information may include, if applicable, theidentification of participants not allowed to purchase a given policy).In turn, server 104 may thereafter provide the information on theobtained policies to server 704. Server 704 may then determine for agiven policy whether a seller participant of that policy has designatedthe identification of one or more buyer participants to which the sellerparticipant does not want to sell the policy (e.g., server 704 mayreview a profile, if applicable, and/or review information obtained fromdatabase 180, if applicable, as described above). Assuming the sellerparticipant of a policy has designated the identification of one or morebuyer participants, server 704 may next determine whether the buyerparticipant that submitted the search request is one of the designatedparticipants. Assuming the buyer participant is one of the designatedparticipants, server 704 may proceed in various fashions as discussedabove. For example, server 704 may remove (filter out) the policy fromthe search results and may thereafter provide information on theremaining policies to workstation 101, which may then provide theinformation to the buyer participant, such as through a graphicalinterface/display. As another example, server 704 may mark the policy insome fashion and then provide information on this policy and otherpolicies resulting from the search to workstation 101, which may thenprovide the information to the participant, such as through a graphicalinterface/display, as similarly described above, such that theparticipant knows that the policy may not be purchased. As anotherexample, the policy may be displayed to the buyer participant in such afashion that prevents the buyer participant from purchasing the policy(e.g., from submitting a bid), as similarly discussed above.

As another example, assuming a seller participant establishes a profileas discussed above and such a profile is stored at server 704, forexample, as a buyer participant submits a request to purchase a policy(e.g., a bid request) via a workstation 101, the workstation maycommunicate the request via server 704 to server 104. In response toreceiving the purchase request, server 704 may determine for the policywhether a seller participant of that policy has designated theidentification of one or more buyer participants to which the sellerparticipant does not want to transfer/sell the policy (e.g., server 704may review a profile, if one exists). Assuming the seller participant ofthe policy has designated the identification of one or more buyerparticipants, server 704 may next determine whether the buyerparticipant that submitted the purchase request is one of the designatedparticipants. Assuming the buyer participant is one of the designatedparticipants, server 704 may deny the request (e.g., never forwarding itto server 104) and cause workstation 101 to present a notification, suchas an error message, to the buyer participant that the purchase is notpermitted. Alternatively, assuming the buyer participant is not one ofthe designated participants, 704 may forward the request to server 104,where the request is handle as normal, for example.

Converting a Term Policy to a Permanent Policy—System Initiated

According to an embodiment of the invention, system 100 (and similarlysystem 700) may notify a seller participant that is attempting to sell aconvertible term policy (including, for example, a life settlementpolicy and/or a resale policy) that the policy may possibly be convertedto a permanent policy and then sold and/or may assist the participant inat least deciding whether to convert the policy prior to selling thepolicy. For example, it may be of benefit for a seller participant thatis seeking to sell a convertible term policy to first convert the policyto a permanent policy and then to sell the permanent policy. Thebenefit(s) may include, for example, that the permanent policy has agreater sale value than the convertible term policy.

For example, according to an embodiment of the invention, in the courseof a seller participant accessing server 104 via workstation 101, forexample, to transfer/sell a policy, server 104 (and/or similarly,workstation 101) may determine that the policy is a convertible termpolicy and then notify the participant via workstation 101, such asthrough a notification that appears as graphical interface/display, thatit may be possible for the participant to first convert the policy to apermanent policy and then to sell the permanent policy. Server 104(and/or similarly, workstation 101) may determine that a policy is aconvertible term policy in various fashions. For example, if the policyis a policy for which there is information already in database 180(e.g., because the policy was previously sold through system 100),server 104 may determine from this information (e.g., by the existenceof a conversion provision in the policy) that the policy is aconvertible term policy and provide the participant with notificationthereof. As another example, server 104 may determine from informationsubmitted by the participant in the course of indicating a desire tosell the policy that the policy is a convertible term policy (e.g., theparticipant may submit the policy). As a further example, in the courseof the seller participant indicating a desire to sell a policy, server104 may prompt the participant, for example, via workstation 101 to askthe participant whether the policy is a convertible term policy andbased on a positive response from the participant as provided to server104 by workstation 101, notify the participant via workstation 101 thatit may be possible for the participant to first convert the policy to apermanent policy and then to sell the permanent policy. One skilled inthe art will recognize that server 104 may determine that a policy is aconvertible term policy in various other fashions.

In response to receiving such a notification from server 104, aparticipant may make an indication to server 104 via workstation 101that the participant wishes to proceed with selling the policy as aconvertible term policy. Alternatively, a participant may make anindication to server 104 via workstation 101 that the participant wishesto temporarily put-on-hold the selling of the policy to look furtherinto converting the policy and/or to actually convert the policy (e.g.,speak/interact with the issuer of the policy to convert the policy). Asa result, server 104 may place the policy in the pending state, forexample, until the participant later decides to proceed, for example,with the selling of the policy in either form (i.e., as a term policy oras a permanent policy).

As discussed above, server 104, for example, may determine that a policyis a convertible term policy (e.g., by the existence of a conversionprovision) and provide such notification to the participant but may notactually determine whether the policy can be converted. In other words,although a policy may have a conversion provision, certain requirementsmay need to be met before the policy can be converted. For example, theinsured may need to be of a minimum age, the insured may need to beyounger than a maximum age, the policy may have a final conversionoption expiry date after which the policy is non-convertible (which datemay have passed), there may be an exclusion period in the early years ofthe policy during which the convertible policy cannot be converted, etc.According to an embodiment of the invention, prior to notifying aparticipant that the participant may possibly convert the policy to apermanent policy and then sell the permanent policy, server 104 mayfirst determine whether the policy can be converted and only providesuch a notification when the policy can be converted. Again, server 104may make such a determination based on information (e.g., the age of theinsured, the issue date of the policy, etc.) obtained in similarfashions as discussed above and by then comparing this information tothe conversion provision/terms of the policy.

According to another embodiment of the invention, server 104 mayalternatively and/or in addition also make a determination as to avalue/benefit in converting a term policy to a permanent policy. Basedon this determination (in addition, for example, to determining that thepolicy can be converted), server 104 may decide whether to send or notsend a notification to a seller participant regarding converting thepolicy to a permanent policy. As another alternative, server 104 mayprovide as part of the notification to the participant informationrelated to the determined value/benefit (if any) in converting thepolicy, thereby possibly assisting the seller participant in making adetermination/decision as to whether to convert the policy.

For example, server 104 (and/or an administrator associated therewith)may determine a probability/estimate of the insured dying within theterm of the term policy and/or the life expectancy of the insured.Server 104 may make such a determination based on the health/medicalrecords of the insured, the age of the insured, etc. In addition and/oralternatively, server 104 may make such a determination based on one ormore life expectancy evaluations on the insured. Server 104 may obtainsuch information (i.e., health/medical records of the insured, the ageof the insured, and/or one or more life expectancy evaluations, etc.)from database 180 (e.g., because the policy was previously sold throughsystem 100), may obtain such information from information submitted bythe seller participant in the course of indicating a desire to sell thepolicy, and/or may obtain such information by prompting the participant,for example, via workstation 101 for the information. As anotherexample, server 104 and/or an administrator associated therewith mayinteract with one or more other systems and/or individuals (e.g., healthcare providers and/or entities that provide life expectancy evaluations)to obtain such information. One skilled in the art will recognize thatserver 104 may obtain such information in various other fashions. Basedat least in part on determining the life expectancy of the insured, forexample, and/or the probability/estimate of the insured dying within theterm of the term policy, for example, server 104 may determine (eventhough a policy can be converted to a permanent policy) whether there isvalue or no value in converting the policy and thereby notify or notnotify the seller participant that the participant may convert thepolicy (e.g., if there is a high probability of the insured dying withinthe term of the term policy, there may be no value in converting thepolicy). When notifying the participant, server 104 may include thedetermined life expectancy of the insured, for example, and/or theprobability/estimate of the insured dying within the term of the termpolicy. As another example, rather than make a determination on behalfof the participant whether there is value or no value in converting thepolicy and thereby notify or not notify the seller participant that theparticipant may convert the policy, server 104 may always notify theparticipant that the participant may convert the policy to a permanentpolicy (i.e., when it is convertible and can be converted) and includetherein the life expectancy of the insured and/or theprobability/estimate of the insured dying within the term of the termpolicy, for example, thereby possibly assisting the seller participantin making a determination/decision as to whether to convert the policy.Here, server 104 may also include a recommendation as to whether theparticipant should convert the policy.

As another example, server 104 (and/or an administrator associatedtherewith) may alternatively and/or in addition determine an estimatedsale/monetary value (e.g., an approximate minimum sale value, anapproximate average value, an estimated value) of the term policy and/oran estimated sale/monetary value that the policy may have as a permanentpolicy (i.e., once converted to a permanent policy, a possible value ofthe policy). Server 104, for example, may determine such values invarious fashions. For example, server 104 may use, for example, one ormore previous sale prices at which the term policy previouslytransferred. As another example, to determine such value(s), server 104may need/use, for example, the health/medical records of the insured,the age of the insured, one or more life expectancy evaluations on theinsured, etc. As a further example, to determine such values, server 104may also need/use the life insurance policy of the term policy andpossibly an illustration, for example, of the potential permanent policy(and/or a copy of the permanent policy) as may be obtained, for example,from the issuer of the policy. (One skilled in the art will recognizethat the conversion provision of a term policy may allow that policy tobe converted into one of several different types of permanent policies.Server 104 may determine a value for each variation. For purposes ofdescription, it will be assumed that a convertible term policy may onlybe converted into a single type of permanent policy.) Again, server 104may obtain such information as discussed above. In particular,regarding, for example, an illustration (and/or copy) of the permanentpolicy, server 104, for example, may request that the seller participantobtain such information from the issuer of the policy and thereaftersubmit the information to server 104, and/or server 104 and/or anadministrator associated therewith may interact with one or more othersystems and/or individuals associated with the issuer, for example, toobtain such information. Again, based at least in part on the estimatedsale/monetary value of the term policy and the estimated sale/monetaryvalue that the policy may have as a permanent policy, server 104 maydetermine (even though a policy can be converted to a permanent policy)whether there is any value in converting the policy and as a result,either notify or not notify the seller participant that the participantmay convert the policy. For example, server 104 may determine whetherthe estimated sale/monetary value of the permanent policy exceeds (orexceeds by an appreciable amount and/or predetermined threshold) theestimated sale/monetary value of the term policy. In general, whenconverting a term policy to a permanent policy, a seller participant mayneed to make a payment, such as an increased premium payment, to theissuer of the policy as a result of, for example, the permanent policycosting more than the term policy. As part of determining whether thereis any value in converting the policy to a permanent policy, server 104may take into account this increased payment (e.g., the differentialbetween the premium payment for the permanent policy as compared to thepremium payment for term policy), and possibly other increased premiumpayments the seller participant may need to pay until the permanentpolicy sells. For example, server 104 may determine whether theestimated sale/monetary value of the permanent policy exceeds theestimated sale/monetary value of the term policy plus the increasedpremium payment(s). Server 104 may determine (and/or approximate) theincreased premium payment(s), for example, from an illustration of thepermanent policy (and/or a copy of the permanent policy), for example,may interact with one or more other systems and/or individualsassociated with the issuer, for example, to obtain such information, mayapproximate the payment(s) based at least in part on the term policy,etc.

According to another embodiment of the invention, when notifying theparticipant, server 104 may include the estimated sale/monetary value ofthe term policy and/or the estimated sale/monetary value that the policymay have as a permanent policy and/or any increased premium payments theseller participant may need to pay, etc.

As another example, rather than (and/or in addition to) determining avalue of the term policy, server 104 may prompt, for example, theparticipant to provide a desired minimum selling price for the termpolicy and compare this price to the estimated value of the permanentpolicy (and possibly the increased premium payment(s)) and make adetermination there from whether there is any value in converting thepolicy. As a result, server 104 may either notify or not notify theseller participant that the participant may convert the policy.

As a further example, rather than make a determination on behalf of theparticipant whether there is value or no value in converting the policyand thereby notify or not notify the seller participant that theparticipant may convert the policy as described above, server 104 mayalways notify the participant that the participant may convert thepolicy to a permanent policy (i.e., when it is convertible and can beconverted) and may also provide to the participant any of the aboveestimated monetary values. Here, server 104 may also include arecommendation as to whether the participant should convert the policy.

According to another embodiment of the invention, rather thanautomatically determine, for example, a life expectancy of the insured,a probability/estimate of the insured dying within the term of the termpolicy, an estimated value for the term policy, an estimated value forthe permanent policy, and/or estimated increased premium payment(s)etc., server 104 may provide a notification to the participant that theparticipant may convert the policy to a permanent policy and then query(separately and/or together with the notification) the participant as towhether the participant would like such additional information and thenprovide such information if requested. Based on such information, server104 may also include a recommendation as to whether the participantshould convert the policy. According to an embodiment of the invention,server 104/system 100 may provide such information at no fee, mayprovide such information at cost (e.g., server 104/system 100/anadministrator/owner of system 100 may incur a fee for obtaining lifeexpectancy evaluations on an insured), and/or may provide suchinformation for a fee. Such fee may need to be paid by the participantin advance (e.g., prior to obtaining the information) and/or server104/system 100/administrator/owner of system 100 may obtain such a feefrom any proceeds resulting from a sale of the policy, whether sold as aterm policy or a permanent policy.

As discussed above, server 104 may make available to a participant theabove described notification regarding the conversion of a term policyin the course of the participant accessing server 104 to sell a policy.Thereafter, the participant may convert the policy to a permanent policyand then sell the permanent policy. According to another embodiment ofthe invention, rather than making such a notification as the participantaccesses server 104 to sell the policy, server 104 may allow aparticipant to submit for sale the convertible term policy and allow thepolicy to proceed, for example, to the active state where bids, forexample, may be received for the policy. During the course of receivingbids, server 104 may make a determination (e.g., after determining thatthe policy has a conversion provision and can be converted) as towhether it is beneficial to convert (whether there is value inconverting) the policy to a permanent policy and sell the permanentpolicy. In addition to making such a determination as discussed above,server 104 may also/alternatively make such a determination based on“current activity” regarding the sale of the term policy including, forexample:

-   1. The size (i.e., offered price) of the bids being offered for the    policy;-   2. The size of the bids being offered for the policy as compared to    a minimum bid/selling price/amount as indicated by the seller    participant;-   3. Whether the minimum bid/selling price/amount as indicated by the    seller participant has been met;-   4. If the minimum bid amount as indicated by the seller participant    has been met, how quickly it took for bids to meet/exceed this price    (e.g., amount of time since the start of the auction period before    the minimum bid amount was met, the number of bids it took to    reach/exceed the minimum bid amount, etc.).-   5. The size of the bids being offered for the policy as compared to    a “trade it now” price as indicated by the seller participant;-   6. The size of the bids being offered for the policy as compared to    one or more previous sale prices for the policy at which the policy    was transferred;-   7. The size of the bids being offered for the policy as compared to    an estimated sale/monetary value (e.g., an approximate minimum sale    value, an approximate average value, an estimated value) that the    policy may have as a permanent policy (as discussed above);-   8. The rate at which bids are being submitted for the policy;-   9. The number of different participants submitting bids on the    policy; and/or-   10. The number of participants that have requested to view (not    necessarily bid on) the policy (e.g., since the start of the auction    period).

In other words, based on “current activity” regarding the sale of a termpolicy, server 104 may determine a level of interest in the policy, maydetermine probable/projected sale price of the policy as a term policy,and/or may determine a possible/projected sale/monetary value the policymay have as a permanent policy (e.g., such a possible/projectedsale/monetary value may be a further refinement of the estimatedsale/monetary value discussed above). Accordingly, if the policy has ahigh degree of interest, for example, server 104 may determine that itmay be beneficial to convert the policy. As another example, based on aprobable/projected sale price of the policy as a term policy as comparedto an estimated sale/monetary value that the policy may have as apermanent policy (including, for example, estimated increased premiumpayments as discussed above), server 104 may determine that it may bebeneficial to convert the policy. As a further example, based on aprobable/projected sale price of the policy as a term policy as comparedto a possible/projected sale/monetary value that the policy may have asa permanent policy, server 104 may determine that it may be beneficialto convert the policy. One skilled in the art will recognize that server104 may make such a determination in other fashions.

Once making such a determination, server 104 may notify the sellerparticipant that the participant may wish to withdraw the policy fromsale, convert the policy to a permanent policy, and then sell thepermanent policy. As part of this notification, server 104 may provide(possibly for a fee) any of the above described information (i.e.,information related to current activity regarding the sale of the termpolicy including, for example, a determined level of interest in thepolicy, a determined probable/projected sale price of the policy as aterm policy, a determined possible/projected sale/monetary value thepolicy may have as a permanent policy) and possibly also, for example,an estimated sale/monetary value the policy may have as a permanentpolicy, a life expectancy of the insured, a probability/estimate of theinsured dying within the term of the term policy, etc. As a furtherexample, rather than make a determination on behalf of the sellerparticipant whether there is value or no value in converting the policyand thereby notify or not notify the seller participant that theparticipant may convert the policy, server 104 may always notify theparticipant during the course of receiving bids (e.g., during the activestate) that the participant may convert the policy to a permanent policyand may also provide to the participant any of the above information.Here, server 104 may also include a recommendation as to whether theparticipant should convert the policy. As a still further example, inthe course of receiving bids, server 104 may notify the sellerparticipant that the participant may convert the policy to a permanentpolicy and then query the participant as to whether the participantwould like to receive any of the above described information (assimilarly described above), possibly for a fee. Here, server 104 mayagain also include a recommendation as to whether the participant shouldconvert the policy.

Regardless of what information the notification may include, thenotification may be provided one or more times during the course ofreceiving bids (e.g., half way through the auction period; at a randomtime; if the auction period is such that the participant cannot withdrawthe policy from sale after a certain time, the notification may beprovided just prior to this time, etc.). In general, server 104 mayprovide notification to the participant via a workstation 101, assumingthe seller participant is accessing system 100. As another example,server 104 may cause some other electronic based notification to be sentto the seller participant, such as via email, page, fax, short messageservice, automated voice system, etc. As a further example, server 104may cause an administrator of server 104, for example, to contact theseller participant. Again, in response to receiving such a notification,a seller participant may proceed with selling the policy as aconvertible term policy. Alternatively, after determining that it may bebeneficial to convert the policy, the participant may make an indicationto server 104 via workstation 101, for example, to withdraw the policyfrom sale, and then convert the policy to a permanent policy and thenresubmit the permanent policy to server 104 for sale.

As discussed above and according to an embodiment of the invention,system 100/an owner thereof, for example, may charge a service fee forassisting in the transferring/selling of a policy. Such a fee may be astraight/constant/flat fee. Alternatively, such a fee may be apercentage, for example, of the final sale price of a policy (e.g.,before or after broker fees are removed), for example. Such a fee may becharged to the seller participant and/or to the buyer participant.According to an embodiment of the invention, when a seller participantconverts a term policy to a permanent policy, system 100 may charge adifferent fee than if the seller participant decides to sell the policyas a term policy. For example, system 100 may charge a first flat feewhen the policy is sold as a term policy and a second flat fee when thepolicy is converted and sold as a permanent policy. The first flat feemay be larger than the second flat fee. As another example, system 100may charge a first percentage fee when the policy is sold as a termpolicy and a second percentage fee when the policy is converted and soldas a permanent policy. The first percentage fee may be larger than thesecond percentage fee. One skilled in the art will recognize that otherfee structures are possible. For example (and/or in addition), the feecharged when the policy is converted to a permanent policy may be afunction of how close the sale price (e.g., the winning bid amount) isto a determined estimated and/or possible/projected sale/monetary valuethat the policy may have as a permanent policy, as discussed above. Forexample, if the sale price exceeds (e.g., is within some predeterminefirst threshold of) the estimated sale/monetary value of the policy, afirst predetermined fee/value may be charged; if the sale priceapproximately equals (e.g., is within some predetermine second possiblydifferent threshold of) the estimated sale/monetary value of the policy,a second lesser predetermined fee/value may be charged; and if the saleprice is less than (e.g., is within some predetermine third possiblydifferent threshold of) the estimated sale/monetary value, a third stilllesser predetermined fee/value may charged (an inverse of this structuremay also be used). As another example, if the sale price approximatelyequals the estimated sale/monetary value of the policy, a predeterminedfee/value may be charged; if the sale price exceeds the estimatedsale/monetary value, the predetermined fee/value may gradually increasewith the larger the deviation/difference; and if the sale price is lessthan the estimated sale/monetary value, the predetermined fee/value maygradually decrease the larger the deviation/difference (again, aninverse of this structure may also be used). As another example (and/orin addition) and in a similar fashion, the fee charged when the policyis converted to a permanent policy may be a function of how close thesale price is to a minimum bid amount the seller participant wanted toobtain for the permanent policy.

According to an embodiment of the invention, server 104 mayautomatically notify the seller participant of the different feestructures when notifying the participant that the participant mayconvert the policy. According to another embodiment of the invention,server 104 may notify the seller participant of the different feestructures if the participant makes an indication to server 104 that theparticipant does not want to convert the policy. Here, server 104 maynotify the seller participant of the different fee structures as anincentive to convert the policy, for example (e.g., that a lesser feemay be charged for a converted policy as compared to an unconvertedpolicy, that a lesser fee may be charged if certain prices are notobtained for the converted policy, etc.). According to anotherembodiment of the invention, server 104 may, by default, charge the samefee structure whether the participant converts or does not convert thepolicy and only offer to provide a second fee structure if theparticipant makes an indication to server 104 that the participant doesnot want to convert the policy. Again, server 104 may notify the sellerparticipant of the different fee structures as an incentive to convertthe policy, for example (e.g., that a lesser fee may be charged for aconverted policy as compared to an unconverted policy).

Converting a Term Policy to a Permanent Policy—Participant Initiated

According to another embodiment of the invention, rather than system 100(and/or similarly system 700) notifying a seller participant that isattempting to transfer/sell a convertible term policy that the policymay possibly be converted to a permanent policy and then sold, theseller participant may initiate the interaction. For example, accordingto an embodiment of the invention, in the course of a seller participantaccessing server 104 via workstation 101, for example, to transfer/sella policy, the participant may query (make a request to) server 104(and/or similarly, workstation 101), such as via graphicalinterface/provided option at workstation 101, as to whether the policycan be converted from a term policy to a permanent policy. In responsethereto, server 104 (and/or similarly, workstation 101) may determinewhether the policy is a convertible term policy as similarly discussedabove (e.g., by determining whether the policy has a conversionprovision) and if so, provide such notification/response to theparticipant via workstation 101 (possibly further indicating that it maybe possible for the participant to convert the policy prior to sellingthe policy). In addition, server 104 (and/or similarly, workstation 101)may also determine whether the policy can be converted (i.e., are all ofthe requirements of the conversion provision met), as similarlydiscussed above.

According to another embodiment of the invention, server 104 may alsoprovide to the participant information related to a determinedvalue/benefit in converting the term policy to a permanent policy (e.g.,server 104 may determine a probability/estimate of the insured dyingwithin the term of the term policy and/or may determine the lifeexpectancy of the insured and/or may determine an estimatedsale/monetary value of the term policy and/or an estimated sale/monetaryvalue that the policy may have as a permanent policy, etc.), assimilarly discussed above. Server 104 may provide such information tothe participant as part of the above notification/response or mayprovide such information in response to a further request from theparticipant. As another alternative, based on such information, server104 may make a determination as to whether there is value or no value inconverting the policy and provide such a determination (e.g., as arecommendation) to the participant as part of the abovenotification/response, or may provide such a determination in responseto a further request from the participant. Again, as similarly discussedabove, server 104/system 100 may provide any of the above describedinformation and/or determinations possibly for a fee.

According to another embodiment of the invention, a participant may knowa term policy can be converted to a permanent policy prior to sale andas part of attempting to sell the convertible term policy, for example,may query (make a request to) server 104 via workstation 101, such asvia graphical interface/provided option, to provide information relatedto a determined value/benefit in converting the term policy to apermanent policy and/or to make a determination as to whether there isvalue or no value in converting the policy, as described above. Again,as similarly discussed above, server 104/system 100 may provide any ofthe above described information/determinations possibly for a fee.

As discussed above, in any scenario, a participant may proceed withselling the policy as a convertible term policy. Alternatively, aparticipant may make an indication to server 104 via workstation 101that the participant wishes to temporarily put-on-hold the selling ofthe policy to look further into converting the policy and/or to actuallyconvert the policy (e.g., speak/interact with the issuer of the policyto convert the policy). As a result, server 104 may place the policy inthe pending state, for example, until the participant later decides toproceed, for example, with the selling of the policy in either form(i.e., as a term policy or as a permanent policy).

As similarly discussed above, when a seller participant converts a termpolicy to a permanent policy, system 100 may charge a different servicefee (i.e., a fee for assisting in the policy transfer) than if theseller participant decides to sell the policy as a term policy.

According to another embodiment of the invention, a seller participantmay submit a convertible term policy to server 104 for sale, or example,and allow the policy to proceed, for example, to the active state wherebids, for example, may be received for the policy. During the course ofreceiving bids, the participant may query (make a request to) server 104via workstation 101, such as via graphical interface/provided option, asto whether the policy can be converted from a term policy to a permanentpolicy. In response thereto, server 104 may determine whether the policyis a convertible term policy as similarly discussed above, and may alsodetermine whether the policy can be converted, as similarly discussedabove, and provide such notification/response to the participant viaworkstation 101.

According to another embodiment of the invention, server 104 may alsoprovide to the participant information related to, for example: aprobability/estimate of the insured dying within the term of the termpolicy, the life expectancy of the insured, a determined estimatedsale/monetary value that the policy may have as a permanent policy,etc., as discussed above. In addition and/or alternatively, server 104may provide information related to current activity regarding the saleof the term policy (as discussed above) including, for example: adetermined level of interest in the policy, a determinedprobable/projected sale price of the policy as a term policy, adetermined possible/projected sale/monetary value the policy may have asa permanent policy, as similarly discussed above. Server 104 may providesuch information to the participant as part of the abovenotification/response or may provide such information in response to afurther request from the participant. As another alternative, based onany such information, server 104 may make a determination as to whetherthere is value or no value in converting the policy and provide such adetermination (e.g., as a recommendation) to the participant as part ofthe above response, or may provide such a determination in response to afurther request from the participant. Again, as similarly discussedabove, server 104/system 100 may provide any of the above describedinformation/determinations possibly for a fee.

According to another embodiment of the invention, a participant may knowa term policy can be converted to a permanent policy and during thecourse of receiving bids on the convertible term policy, for example,may query (make a request to) server 104 via workstation 101, such asvia graphical interface/provided option, to provide any of the abovedescribed information (i.e., a probability/estimate of the insured dyingwithin the term of the term policy, information related to currentactivity regarding the sale of the term policy, etc.) and/or to make adetermination/recommendation as to whether there is value or no value inconverting the policy. Again, as similarly discussed above, server104/system 100 may provide any of the above described information and/ordeterminations possibly for a fee.

As discussed above, in any scenario, a seller participant may proceedwith selling the policy as a convertible term policy. Alternatively,after determining that it may be beneficial to convert the policy, theparticipant may make an indication to server 104 via workstation 101,for example, to withdraw the policy from sale, and then convert thepolicy to a permanent policy and then resubmit the permanent policy toserver 104 for sale.

Delayed Conversion

As generally described above, server 104 (and similarly server 704), forexample, may notify a participant that it may be possible for theparticipant to convert a term policy to a permanent policy and then tosell the permanent policy. As indicated, server 104 may provide such anotification to the seller participant during the course of the sellerparticipant accessing server 104 to transfer/sell a policy, and/or mayprovide such a notification to the seller participant during the courseof receiving bids, for example, on the policy. In the former case, theparticipant may thereafter convert the policy to a permanent policy andsell the permanent policy. In the latter case, the participant maywithdraw the term policy from sale, convert the policy to a permanentpolicy, and then sell the permanent policy.

According to another embodiment of the invention, whenever the sellerparticipant decides to convert the policy to a permanent policy, server104 (and similarly server 704) may allow the participant to delay theactual conversion of the policy until a later time, such as until afterthe bidding period, for example, is closed and a buyerparticipant/winning bid is determined, for example. By delaying theconversion of the policy, the seller participant may be viewed asselling a permanent policy that has not yet been converted. By doing so,for example, the seller participant may be able to delay, for example,having to make one or more increased payments, such as premium payments,to the issuer of the policy as a result of, for example, the permanentpolicy costing more than the term policy. In addition, by selling thepolicy in this fashion, the seller participant may monitor/view, forexample, bids on the “permanent policy” and if such bids are not to theparticipant's satisfaction, for example, may withdraw the policy fromsale and then resubmit the policy as a term policy.

As an example, as part of the notification to the seller participantthat the participant may convert a policy to a permanent policy, server104 may indicate to the participant that the participant may eitherconvert the policy to a permanent policy and then sell the permanentpolicy (as described above) and/or that the participant may delay theconversion of the policy until after the policy is sold. One skilled inthe art will recognize that server 104 may provide such a notificationto a seller participant at various times as described above including,for example, after making a determination that there is value inconverting the policy to a permanent policy. When opting to delay theconversion of a policy, the seller participant, while indicating adesire to sell the insurance policy, may indicate to server 104, such asvia a graphical interface/option at a workstation 101, that the policywill be sold as a delayed conversion. In response thereto, server 104may indicate to the seller participant that the participant needs tosubmit any of the information described herein regarding the term policyand/or may also indicate that the participant needs to submit, forexample, an illustration of the permanent policy as obtained from theissuer, a copy of the permanent policy in an unexecuted form, etc.(i.e., may indicate to the participant that the participant needs tosubmit sufficient information so that a potential buyer participant mayvalue the permanent policy). Alternatively, server 104 and/or anassociated administrator may obtain such information from the issuer,etc. The seller participant may also submit to server 104, for example,a minimum bid/selling price/amount and/or starting bid the sellerparticipant is willing to accept for the policy as a permanent policy,and/or may indicate a “trade it now” price, or in other words, a priceat which the seller participant is willing to sell the policy as apermanent policy, etc. According to an embodiment of the invention, theseller participant may need to also enter into one or more agreements,such as with system 100/an owner thereof. For example, the sellerparticipant may need to agree that the seller participant will convertthe policy once a buyer participant is determined (e.g., once a winningbid/sale price is determined) and/or will assist in the conversion, ifnecessary (and may possibly be assessed a fee, for example, if he doesnot convert the policy). The seller participant may also enter into anagreement with system 100/an owner thereof as to who will pay for anyinitial fees associated with the conversion, such as any initial/firstpremium payment that may need to be paid to the issuer of the policy asa result of, for example, the policy being converted (paying of suchfees is further discussed below).

Thereafter, server 104 may designate the type of the policy withindatabase 180 as a permanent policy (i.e., the type of permanent policyto which the seller participant intends to convert the policy) andmaintain an indication that the policy is to “be converted.” Inaddition, when providing information on the policy to other participants(such as potential buyer participants), server 104 may indicate that thepolicy type as a permanent policy but provide an additional indicationthat the policy is to “be converted.” For example, the type of thepolicy may be shown as, “Whole Life (to be converted).”

Once all necessary information has been obtained on the policy and thepolicy goes through an approval process, for example, server 104, forexample, may deem the policy as ready to proceed to the active/livestate. During the active/live state, buyer participants, for example,via a workstation 101 may submit one or more bids on the policy,possibly valuing the policy as a permanent policy.

According to an embodiment of the invention, the length/duration of theactive/live state (e.g., bidding period) may be tied to how long anillustration, for example, on the permanent policy is good for. Forexample, as indicated, a seller participant may need to obtain from theissuer an illustration on the permanent policy and/or an actual policythe participant needs to execute and may need to submit these to server104, thereby allowing potential buyer participants to view informationon the permanent policy and value the policy. Such documents may only bevalid for a set duration of time. Accordingly, it may be necessary toconvert the policy prior to these documents expiring so that the policya buyer participant eventually purchases is the same one bid on, forexample.

Nonetheless, at the end of the active/live state/auction period server104 may move the policy to the closed state, where a buyer participant(e.g., a winning bid/sale price) may be determined, for example. Server104 may notify, via workstations 101 for example, the seller participantand/or the buyer participant (that submitted the winning bid) of thepending sale/transfer. During the closed state, the purchased policy maybe cleared, as discussed above.

As part of this clearing, the seller participant may actually convertthe policy to a permanent policy (e.g., execute, for example, anydocuments (e.g., the permanent policy) needed to actually convert thepolicy) and/or assist in such conversion, if necessary, and thenexecute, for example, any agreement needed to transfer ownership of thepermanent policy to the buyer participant, for example. According to anembodiment of the invention, the buyer participant may need to place atleast a portion of the sale price/winning bid amount in escrow, forexample, prior to the seller participant having to convert the policy.In this fashion, the seller participant may convert the policy withoutthe fear that the buyer participant may possibly thereafter not proceedwith the transfer of ownership of the policy. Alternatively, the sellerparticipant may execute, for example, any agreement needed to transferownership of the term policy to the buyer participant, for example, andthen allow the buyer participant to convert the policy to a permanentpolicy. According to an embodiment of the invention, back officeclearing center 112/system 100/server 104/an administrator thereof, forexample, may assist in the conversion. For example, back office clearingcenter 112 may obtain from the issuer any required documents and/orsubmit any executed documents to the issuer. According to an embodimentof the invention, server 104, for example, may update database 180 toreflect the policy having been converted and to store therein, forexample, associated documents.

In either case, as part of clearing, the selling and/or buyerparticipant may pay, for example, any initial fees associated with theconversion, such as any initial/first premium payment that may need tobe paid to the issuer of the policy as a result of, for example, thepolicy being converted. For example, the seller participant may pay sucha fee, the buyer participant may pay such a fee, or a combination ofboth the buyer and seller participants may pay proportionate parts ofthe fee (possibly equal amounts or non-equal amounts). As to whichparticipant(s) will pay the fee may be predetermined, for example, bysystem 100/an administrator thereof. As another example, the sellerparticipant (e.g., as part of indicating a desire to sell the policy)may specify/determine which participant(s) will pay the fee and possiblyin what proportions. In either case, server 104 may make suchinformation available to a possible/potential buyer participant when theparticipant requests to view information on the policy. According toanother embodiment of the invention, system 100/an owner thereof, maycover/pay at least in part of the fee. Such a payment may be made as anincentive, for example, for a seller participant to sell the policy as adelayed conversion.

How the fee/premium payment is paid to the issuer may occur in variousfashions. For example, the seller participant and/or the buyerparticipant may pay the fee (or a portion thereof) directly to theissuer. Alternatively, the seller participant and/or the buyerparticipant may pay the fee (or a portion thereof) to system 100/anadministrator thereof, which may then pay the fee to the issuer.Alternatively, back office clearing center 112/system 100/anadministrator thereof, for example, may deduct such fees from an accountof the buyer participant and/or an account of the seller participant andthen pay such fees to the issuer. Alternatively, in the process oftransferring monetary funds from the buyer participant to the sellerparticipant in exchange for the sold policy, for example, back officeclearing center 112/system 100/an administrator thereof, for example,may deduct such fees from these funds and then pay such fees to theissuer. One skilled in art the will recognize that the fee may be paidin other fashions.

As generally described above, server 104, as part of a notification to aseller participant that the participant may convert a policy, may alsoindicate to the participant that the participant may either convert thepolicy to a permanent policy and then sell the permanent policy and/orthat the participant may delay the conversion of the policy until afterthe policy is sold. According to another embodiment of the invention,server 104 may not provide such a notification. In other words, a sellerparticipant may know a term policy can be converted to a permanentpolicy prior to sale. Accordingly, in the course of a seller participantindicating to server 104 (and similarly server 704) a desire to sell thepolicy, server 104 may provide, such as via a graphicalinterface/display at a workstation 101, an indication/option that if thepolicy is a convertible term policy, the participant may sell the policyas a delayed conversion. Thereafter, the seller participant may selectsuch an option, for example, with the sale of the policy proceeding asdescribed above, for example.

According to another embodiment of the invention, in response to theparticipant selecting such an option, server 104 may first provide, viaworkstation 101 for example, information related to a determinedvalue/benefit in converting the term policy to a permanent policy and/ormay provide a determination (e.g., a recommendation) as to whether thereis value or no value in converting the policy, as described above (suchinformation/determinations may take into consideration as to whether theseller participant will be paying any of the fees/premiums to convertthe policy). Again, server 104 may provide such informationautomatically and/or query the participant as to whether the participantwishes to obtain such information (possibly for a fee). After presentingsuch information, for example, to the participant, server 104 may againpresent the participant with the option to sell the policy as a delayedconversion, which option the participant may accept or decline.

According to another embodiment of the invention, rather than server 104providing such information in response to the participant selecting theoption to sell the policy as a delayed conversion, server 104 mayprovide the participant (together with the option to sell the policy asa delayed conversion) the ability to request from server 104 suchinformation (possibly for a fee). After viewing such information, forexample, the participant may proceed or not proceed with the delayedconversion.

According to another embodiment of the invention and as similarlydiscussed above, system 100/an owner thereof, for example, may charge adifferent service fee structure (i.e., for assisting in the transfer ofthe policy) when a seller participant decides to sell a policy as adelayed conversion as compared to when the seller participant decides tosell the policy as a term policy.

Converting a Term Policy to a Permanent Policy—Covering Premium Payments

As discussed above, when converting a term policy to a permanent policyand transferring/selling the permanent policy, a seller participant mayneed to pay an initial fee/make a payment(s), such as aninitial/increased premium payment, to the issuer of the policy as aresult of, for example, the permanent policy costing more than the termpolicy. According to an embodiment of the invention, system 100 (andsimilarly system 700)/an owner thereof, for example, (hereinaftercollectively referred to as system 100) may assist a seller participantin covering this payment, at least in part. In other words, system 100may pay the fee/premium payment on behalf of the seller participant andin addition, may then later recoup the paid premium payment (possibly inaddition to a service fee) from the buyer participant and/or the sellerparticipant, possibly from the proceeds paid by the buyer participantfor the policy. According to a further embodiment of the invention,system 100 may also assist the seller participant in covering anypremium payment(s), at least in part, that may come due while the policyis in the pending, active/live, and/or closed states and prior toclosing on the sale of the policy, for example. Again, system 100 maypay the fee/premium payment(s) on behalf of the seller participant andin addition, may then later recoup the paid premium payment(s) (possiblyin addition to a service fee) from the buyer participant and/or theseller participant, possibly from the proceeds paid by the buyerparticipant for the policy.

For example, once a seller participant makes an indication to server 104to convert a term policy to a permanent policy as described in variousembodiments above, server 104 may query the participant, such as via aworkstation 101, and thereby offer the participant the option of havingsystem 100 cover, at least in part, one or more of the fees/premiumpayments. For example, the query may include an indication to cover alland/or a part of the initial/increased premium payment that may resultfrom the policy conversion, an indication to cover all and/or a part ofany premium payment that may come due while the policy is in, forexample, the pending, active, and/or closed states and prior to closingon the transfer/sale of the policy, an indication to cover all and/or apart of only a designated number of premium payments that may come duewhile the policy is in, for example, the pending, active, and/or closedstates, an indication to cover up to a designated amount in total ofpremium payments (including, for example, the initial payment) that maycome due, etc. As another example, the query may also include an optionof allowing the seller participant to indicate the amount and/or numberof premium payments the participant may want system 100 to cover. Oneskilled in the art will recognize that other variations are possible.Thereafter, the participant may respond to server 104, via aworkstations 101, for example, either in the affirmative or the negativeand in particular, my also indicate (depending on the form of the query)an amount and/or number of premium payments the participant would likecovered (which amount and/or number may be less than and/or equal to theoffer, for example).

As another example, in response to a seller participant indicating toserver 104 that the participant does not want to convert a policy asdiscussed above, server 104 may query the participant and thereby offerthe participant the option of having system 100 cover, at least in part,one or more of the fees/premium payments, as discussed above. In thisfashion, server 104 may offer an incentive to convert the policy.Thereafter, the participant may respond to server 104, as discussedabove, indicating a desire to convert the policy and to have system 100cover, at least in part, one or more of the fees/premium payments forexample.

As another example, prior to server 104 querying the participantregarding premium payments as discussed above, server 104/anadministrator thereof may first make a determination (as furtherdiscussed below) as to whether system 100 should cover one or more ofthe fees/premium payments and/or the amount and/or number of premiumpayments to cover and based on this determination either make the offeror not make the offer to the participant to cover premium payments, asdiscussed above. Assuming server 104 makes the offer, the participantmay thereafter respond to server 104 either in the affirmative or thenegative and in particular, my also indicate (depending on the form ofthe query) an amount and/or number of premium payments the participantwould like covered (which amount and/or number may be less than and/orequal to the offer, for example).

As further example, in response to a seller participant making anindication to server 104 to convert a term policy to a permanent policy(or to not convert the policy), server 104 may indicate to theparticipant that system 100 “can possibly” cover one or more of thefees/premium payments and whether the participant would like thisoption. Assuming the participant responds in the affirmative, server 104may then make a determination (as further discussed below) as to whethersystem 100 should cover one or more of the fees/premium payments and/orthe amount and/or number of premium payments to cover and based on thisdetermination either make the offer or not make the offer to theparticipant, as discussed above. Assuming server 104 extends the offer,the participant may thereafter respond to server 104 either in theaffirmative or the negative and in particular, my also indicate(depending on the form of the query) an amount and/or number of premiumpayments the participant would like covered (which amount and/or numbermay be less than and/or equal to the offer, for example).

As another example, rather than server 104 initiating a query/offer tothe participant as to whether the participant wants system 100 to coverone or more of the fees/premium payments, a seller participant, as partof attempting to sell a convertible term policy, for example, and/orwhile selling a term policy (e.g., while the policy is in the activestate), for example, etc. may query (make a request to) server 104 viaworkstation 101, such as via graphical interface/provided option, forsystem 100 to cover such fees/premium payments. For example, thequery/request may include a general request to cover such fees/premiumpayments and/or may include an indication as to an amount and/or numberof premium payments the participant may want system 100 to cover. Inresponse thereto, server 104 may respond in the affirmative or negativeto the request and/or may possibly indicate an amount and/or number ofpremium payments system 100 will cover. Alternatively, server 104 mayfirst make a determination (as further discussed below) as to whethersystem 100 should cover one or more of the fees/premium payments and/oran amount and/or number of premium payments to cover and based on thisdetermination either make an offer or not make an offer to theparticipant. In both cases (assuming the system 100 will cover one ormore premiums), depending on the form of the query from the participant,the amount and/or number of premium payments system 100 will cover mayor may not be the same as the participant's request. Regardless,depending on the form of the response from the server, the participantmay thereafter respond to server 104, if appropriate, either in theaffirmative or the negative and may also indicate an amount and/ornumber of premium payments the participant would like covered (whichamount and/or number may be less than and/or equal to that offered in aresponse from the server, for example). One skilled in the art willrecognize that how system 100 may come to cover or not cover thefee/premium payments may occur in other fashions than those describedabove.

Assuming that system 100 will cover the initial fee/increased premiumpayment (or a portion thereof) and that the participant wants the systemto cover such a payment, thereafter the participant may convert thepolicy to a permanent policy and submit/list the permanent policy withserver 104, with system 100 paying at least a portion of thefee/increased premium payment for the conversion. In particular, theparticipant may pay the issuer the fee or a portion thereof, forexample, with system 100 reimbursing the participant, such as bytransferring funds to an account of the participant. As another exampleand/or in addition, system 100 may directly pay the issuer the fee or aportion thereof based on, for example, authorization from theparticipant. In either or both cases, for example, assuming system100/an owner thereof, for example, is to recoup the paid fee/premiumpayment, the seller participant may also enter into one or moreagreements with system 100/an owner thereof regarding how system 100 maybe repaid the fee/premium payment including for example, who may beresponsible for repaying the fee/premium payment, what amount of thefee/premium payment must be repaid, how the fee/premium payment will berepaid, whether there are any service charges, for example, inconnection with system 100 having paid the fee/premium payment, etc. Ingeneral, server 104 may make available to a participant, such as a buyerparticipant, that requests to view information on the permanent policyany of i) that system 100 has paid at least in part the initialfee/increased premium payment, ii) the amount of the fee paid, iii)whether the fee is to be repaid, iv) whether there are service feesassociated with repayment, v) who is to repay the fees/premium paymentand/or service fees, etc. Regardless, the policy may thereafter proceedto the active state, for example, where bids, for example, may bereceived on the permanent policy and then proceed to the closed state,for example, where a buyer participant/winning bidder/bid amount, forexample, may be determined and the purchased policy cleared.

Similarly, assuming that system 100 will cover one or more premiumpayments (or portions thereof) that may come due while the policy is in,for example, the pending, active, and/or closed states and prior to aclosing on the sale of the policy and that the participant wants thesystem to cover such payment(s), system 100 may pay these premiumpayments as they come due. In particular, as a premium payment comesdue, the participant may pay the issuer the payment or a portionthereof, for example, with system 100 reimbursing the participant, suchas by transferring funds to an account of the participant. As anotherexample and/or in addition, system 100 may directly pay the issuer thefee or a portion thereof based on, for example, authorization from theparticipant. In either or both cases, for example, assuming system100/an owner thereof, for example, is to recoup the paid premiumpayment(s), the seller participant may also enter into one or moreagreements (such as those discussed above) with system 100/an ownerthereof regarding how system 100 may be repaid the premium payment(s)including for example, who may be responsible for repaying the premiumpayment(s), what amount of the premium payment(s) must be repaid, howthe premium payment(s) will be repaid, whether there are any servicecharges, for example, in connection with system 100 having paid thepremium payment(s), etc. In general, server 104 may make available to aparticipant, such as a buyer participant, that requests to viewinformation on the permanent policy any of i) that system 100 has paidat least in part one or more premium payments, ii) the amount system 100has paid as of the time the participant is viewing the policy, forexample, iii) whether the amount paid is to be repaid, iv) whether thereare service fees associated with repayment, v) who is to repay thepremium payments and/or service fees, etc.

Should Premium Payments be Covered

As discussed above, server 104 may make a determination as to whethersystem 100 should cover, at least in part, the initial fee/increasedpremium payment for converting a term policy to permanent policy, and ifso, an amount it will cover. Similarly, as discussed above server 104may also make a determination as to whether system 100 should cover, atleast in part, one or more subsequent premium payments that may come duewhile the policy is in, for example, the pending, active, and/or closedstates and prior to closing on the sale of the policy, and if so, anumber and/or a total amount of such payments it will cover. Accordingto an embodiment of the invention, server 104/an administrator thereofmay make such determinations based at least in part on one or more ofthe following factors:

-   1. The amount of the initial fee/increased premium payment for    converting the term policy to a permanent policy.-   2. The amount of the premium payment for the permanent policy.-   3. When the premium payments are due.-   4. An estimated number of premium payments system 100 may need to    make, which estimate may be based at least in part on a determined    estimated duration of time the policy may be in the pending, active,    and/or closed states, for example. Server 104 may determine an    estimated duration of time the policy may be in the active state,    for example, by determining a length of the auction period (e.g., as    specified by the seller participant). Server 104 may also determine    an estimated duration of time the policy may be in the active state,    for example, by determining how fast the policy may sell, such as    how fast a trade it now price may be reached. Such a determination    may be made, for example, by comparing, for example, an estimated    sale/monetary value of the permanent policy (as discussed above) to    a trade it now price (as specified by the seller participant). For    example, a policy that has an estimated value that exceeds the trade    it now price may sell quickly, with the converse also being    possible. Server 104 may also determine an estimated duration of    time the policy may be in the active state, for example, by    comparing, for example, an estimated sale/monetary value of the    permanent policy to a minimum bid/selling price/amount and/or    starting bid amount the seller participant is willing to accept for    the policy. For example, a policy that has an estimated value that    is below the minimum bid amount may not sell quickly, with the    converse also being possible. Server 104 may also determine an    estimated duration of time the policy may be in the active state,    for example, by determining how fast the policy may have    transferred/sold in the past. Server 104 may determine an estimated    duration of time the policy may be in the closed state, for example,    by determining an estimate length for the policy to clear.-   5. A risk that the policy may not sell. Server 104 may make this    determination by comparing an estimated sale/monetary value of the    permanent policy to a minimum bid/selling price/amount and/or    starting bid amount the seller participant is willing to accept for    the policy. For example, a policy that has an estimated value that    is below the minimum bid amount may not sell, with the converse also    being true.-   6. Whether system 100 is already covering premium payments of one or    more other policies also being sold by the seller participant and/or    a total amount of such premium payments being covered. For example,    if system 100 has already covered and/or is obligated to cover a    large number/amount of premium payments of one or more other    policies also being sold by the seller participant, system 100 may    not want to cover additional premium payments.-   7. A credit history/ranking of the seller participant. For example,    if the seller participant has a bad credit history/ranking and the    policy does not sell, the seller participant may not be able to    repay the premium payments system 100 has paid.

Accordingly, server 104/an administrator may be able todetermine/estimate, for example, a total number of premium paymentssystem 100 may need to cover until a policy clears, for example. Inaddition, server 104/an administrator may be able to determine a risk ofthe policy not selling and/or a risk of not being repaid for coveredpremiums, for example. Accordingly, based on the total number of premiumpayments system 100 may need to cover and the risk of not being repaidfor covered premiums, server 104/an administrator may determiner whethersystem 100 should cover, at least in part, one or more premium payments,and if so, a number and/or a total amount of such payments it willcover. One skilled in the art will recognize that server 104/anadministrator may make such determinations in other fashions.

Repaying Covered Premium Payments

As discussed above, assuming system 100 pays one or more premiumpayments/portions thereof, system 100 may later recoup these paymentsand possibly a service fee for making these payments. With respect tothe service fee, such a fee may be a straight/flat fee and/or may be atime based interest fee that is computed over the period of time fromwhen each premium payment is made on behalf of the seller participantand subsequently repaid, for example. One skilled in the art willrecognize that other fee structures are possible. Alternatively, noservice fee may be assessed. As to the type and/or amount of a servicefee, this may be predetermined, for example, by system 100/anadministrator thereof. Alternatively, the seller participant may begiven an option as to the type of service fee and/or may be able tonegotiate the amount of the fee.

With respect to recouping any premium payments paid and possibly aservice fee, system 100 may be repaid such premium payments (in whole orin part) and the service fee as part of a clearing of a transfer/sale ofthe policy, for example, from the seller participant to a buyerparticipant. For example, according to various embodiments of theinvention, the seller participant may repay such premiumpayments/service fee, the buyer participant may repay the premiumpayments/service fee, or a combination of both the buyer and sellerparticipants may repay proportionate parts of the premiumpayments/service fee (possibly equal amounts or non-equal amounts). Asto which participant(s) will repay the premium payments/service fee maybe predetermined, for example, by server 104/system 100/an administratorthereof, etc. As another example, the seller participant mayspecify/determine which participant(s) will repay the premiumpayments/service fee and possibly in what proportions. Again, server 104may make available to a participant, such as a buyer participant, thatrequests to view information on the policy any of i) that system 100 haspaid at least in part one or more premium payments, ii) the amount ofthe premium payments paid, iii) whether the premium payments are to berepaid and the amount to be repaid, iv) whether there is a service fee,v) who is to repay the premium payments and/or service fee, etc.

Example ways in which system 100 may recoup the premium payments/servicefee may include:

-   1. The seller participant and/or the buyer participant may repay the    premium payments/service fee directly to system 100/an administrator    thereof.-   2. Back office clearing center 112/system 100/an administrator    thereof, for example, may deduct the premium payments/service fee    from an account of the buyer participant and/or an account of the    seller participant.-   3. In the process of transferring monetary funds (e.g., the winning    bid amount/proceeds/sale price from the sale of the policy) from the    buyer participant to the seller participant in exchange for the    transferred/sold policy, back office clearing center 112/system    100/an administrator thereof, for example, may deduct at least in    part the premium payments/service fee from these funds, transferring    the premium payments/service fee to system 100/an administrator    thereof and transferring the remaining funds at least in part to the    seller participant (e.g., other portions of the funds may be    transferred to brokers and/or to system 100 for assisting in the    transfer of the policy). Again, such a transferring of monetary    funds may include, for example, receiving from the buyer participant    the funds and sending the funds to the seller participant and/or an    account to account transfer, and/or a combination thereof, etc.-   4. In the process of transferring monetary funds (e.g., the winning    bid amount/proceeds/sale price from the sale of the policy) from the    buyer participant to the seller participant in exchange for the    transferred/sold policy, back office clearing center 112/system    100/an administrator thereof, for example, may receive both the sale    price/winning bid amount and the premium payments/service fee, at    least in part, from the buyer participant and then transfer the    premium payments/service fee to system 100/an administrator thereof    and the sale price/winning bid amount, at least in part, to the    seller participant.

One skilled in art the will recognize that system 100 may recoup thepremium payments/service fees paid in other fashions.

Assuming, for example, that a policy does not sell and that system 100has paid at least in part one or premium payments, to recoup any premiumpayments paid and possibly a service fee, system 100 may collect thepremium payments/service fee from the seller participant (e.g., transfersuch funds from an account of the participant) at the time atransfer/sale is determined to not have occurred (e.g., will not occur),for example. As another example, system 100 may maintain an interest inthe policy, and later recoup any premium payments/service fee at latertime when the policy is sold. During this time, system 100 may continueto cover, at least part, the premium payments. As another example,system 100/an administrator thereof may recoup the premiumpayments/service fee from the sale/proceeds of another policy being soldby the seller participant.

System Covered Premium Payments

As discussed above, when converting a term policy to a permanent policyand selling the permanent policy, system 100 may pay theinitial/increased premium payment and/or any subsequent premium paymentson behalf of the seller participant as they come due. According toanother embodiment of the invention, system 100 (and similarly system700)/an owner thereof, for example, (hereinafter collectively referredto as system 100) may assist the seller participant of any type ofpolicy listed/maintained on system 100, such as for transfer/sale, incovering any premium payment(s), at least in part, that may come duewhile the policy is in, for example, the pending, active, and/or closedstates and in particular, that may come due while the policy is in thepending, active, and/or closed states and prior to a closing on thetransfer/sale of the policy. System 100 may pay the premium payment(s)on behalf of the seller participant and in addition, may then laterrecoup the premium payment(s) (possibly in addition to a service fee)from a buyer participant and/or the seller participant, possibly fromthe proceeds paid by the buyer participant for the policy.

For example, as a seller participant makes an indication to server 104to sell a policy as described in various embodiments above, server 104may query the participant, such as via a workstation 101, and therebyoffer the participant the option of having system 100 cover, at least inpart, one or more of the premium payments. For example, the query mayinclude an indication to cover all and/or a part of any premium paymentthat may come due while the policy is in, for example, the pending,active, and/or closed states and prior to closing on the sale of thepolicy, an indication to cover all and/or a part of only a designatednumber of premium payments that may come due while the policy is in thepending, active, and/or closed states, an indication to cover up to adesignated amount in total of premium payments that may come due, etc.As another example, the query may also include an option of allowing theseller participant to indicate the amount and/or number of premiumpayments the participant may want system 100 to cover. One skilled inthe art will recognize that other variations are possible. Thereafter,the participant may respond to server 104, via a workstation 101, forexample, either in the affirmative or the negative and in particular,may also indicate (depending on the form of the query from server 104)an amount and/or number of premium payments the participant would likecovered (which amount and/or number may be less than and/or equal to theoffer, for example).

As another example, prior to server 104 querying the participant asdiscussed above, server 104/an administrator thereof may first make adetermination as to whether system 100 should cover one or more of thepremium payments and/or the amount and/or number of premium payments tocover and based on this determination either make the offer or not makethe offer to the participant, as discussed above. As similarly discussedabove, server 104/an administrator thereof may make such a determinationbased at least in part on one or more factors such as, for example, theamount of the premium payment, when the premium payments are due, anestimated number of premium payments system 100 may need to make, a riskthat the policy may not transfer/sell, whether system 100 is alreadycovering premium payments of one or more other policies also being soldby the seller participant and/or a total amount of such premium paymentsbeing covered, a credit history/ranking of the seller participant, etc.Assuming server 104 makes the offer, in response to the query, theparticipant may thereafter respond to server 104 either in theaffirmative or the negative and in particular, my also indicate(depending on the form of the query) an amount and/or number of premiumpayments the participant would like covered (which amount and/or numbermay be less than and/or equal to the offer, for example).

As further example, in response to a seller participant making anindication to server 104 sell a policy, server 104 may indicate to theparticipant that system 100 “can possibly” cover one or more of thepremium payments and whether the participant would like this option.Assuming the participant responds in the affirmative, server 104 maythen make a determination as to whether system 100 should cover one ormore of the premium payments and/or the amount and/or number of premiumpayments to cover and based on this determination either make the offeror not make the offer to the participant, as discussed above. Assumingserver 104 extends the offer, the participant may thereafter respond toserver 104 either in the affirmative or the negative and in particular,may also indicate (depending on the form of the query) an amount and/ornumber of premium payments the participant would like covered (whichamount and/or number may be less than and/or equal to the offer, forexample).

As another example, rather than server 104 initiating a query/offer tothe participant as to whether the participant wants system 100 to coverone or more of the premium payments, a seller participant, as part ofmaking an indication to server 104 to a sell a policy, for example, mayquery (make a request to) server 104 via workstation 101, such as viagraphical interface/provided option, for system 100 to cover suchpremium payments. For example, the query/request may include a generalrequest to cover the premium payments and/or may include an indicationas to an amount and/or number of premium payments the participant maywant system 100 to cover. In response thereto, server 104 may respond inthe affirmative or negative to the request and/or may possibly indicatean amount and/or number of premium payments system 100 will cover.Alternatively, server 104 may first make a determination as to whethersystem 100 should cover one or more of the premium payments and/or anamount and/or number of premium payments to cover and based on thisdetermination either make an offer or not make an offer to theparticipant. In both cases (assuming the system 100 will cover one ormore premiums), depending on the form of the query from the participant,the amount and/or number of premium payments system 100 will cover mayor may not be the same as the participant's request. Regardless,depending on the form of the response from the server, the participantmay thereafter respond to server 104, if appropriate, either in theaffirmative or the negative and may also indicate an amount and/ornumber of premium payments the participant would like covered (whichamount and/or number may be less than and/or equal to that offered in aresponse from the server, for example).

As another example, rather than server 104 initiating a query/offer tothe seller participant as the participant accesses server 104 totransfer/sell a policy, server 104 may allow a participant to submit thepolicy for sale and allow the policy to proceed, for example, to theactive state where bids, for example, may be received for the policyand/or to the closed state, for example, where, for example, the policymay be cleared after determining a buyer participant/winning bid, forexample. During the course of receiving bids and/or clearing the policy,for example, server 104 may then query/offer to the seller participantas to whether the participant wants system 100 to cover one or more ofthe premium payments that may come due while the policy is in the activeand/or closed states, for example. Server 104 may initiate thequery/offer based at least in part on determining that a premium paymentis coming due and/or based at least in part on determining that theseller participant has made a certain number of premium payments sincelisting the policy for sale. One skilled in the art will recognize thatserver 104 may initiate the query/offer based on other factors. Again,prior to making the offer, server 104 may first make a determination asto whether system 100 should cover one or more of the premium paymentsand/or the amount and/or number of premium payments to cover and basedon this determination either make the offer or not make the offer to theparticipant, as discussed above. In general, server 104 provide querythe participant via a workstation 101, assuming the seller participantis accessing system 100. As another example, server 104 may cause someother electronic based notification to be sent to the sellerparticipant, such as via email, page, fax, short message service,automated voice system, etc. As a further example, server 104 may causean administrator of server 104, for example, to contact the sellerparticipant. Assuming server 104 extends the offer, the participant maythereafter respond to server 104 either in the affirmative or thenegative and in particular, my also indicate (depending on the form ofthe query) an amount and/or number of premium payments the participantwould like covered (which amount and/or number may be less than and/orequal to the offer).

As another example, a seller participant may list a policy for sale andallow the policy to proceed, for example, to the active state, forexample, where bids, for example, may be received for the policy and/orto the closed state, for example, where, for example, the policy may becleared after determining a buyer participant/winning bid, for example.During the course of receiving bids and/or clearing the policy, forexample, the seller participant may query (make a request to) server 104via workstation 101, such as via graphical interface/provided option,for system 100 to cover one or more premium payments. Again, thequery/request may include, for example, a general request to cover thepremium payments and/or may include an indication as to an amount and/ornumber of premium payments the participant may want system 100 to cover.

In response thereto, server 104 may respond in the affirmative ornegative to the request and/or may possibly indicate an amount and/ornumber of premium payments system 100 will cover. Alternatively, server104 may first make a determination as to whether system 100 should coverone or more of the premium payments and/or an amount and/or number ofpremium payments to cover and based on this determination either make anoffer or not make an offer to the participant. In both cases (assumingthe system 100 will cover one or more premiums), depending on the formof the query from the participant, the amount and/or number of premiumpayments system 100 will cover may or may not be the same as theparticipant's request. Regardless, depending on the form of the responsefrom the server, the participant may thereafter respond to server 104,if appropriate, either in the affirmative or the negative and may alsoindicate an amount and/or number of premium payments the participantwould like covered (which amount and/or number may be less than and/orequal to that offered in a response from the server, for example).

One skilled in the art will recognize that how system 100 may come tocover or not cover the premium payment(s) may occur in other fashionsthan those described above.

As similarly discussed above, assuming that system 100 will cover one ormore premium payments (or portions thereof) that may come due while thepolicy is in, for example, the pending, active, and/or closed states andprior to, for example, a closing on the sale of the policy and that theparticipant wants the system to cover such payment(s), system 100 maypay these premium payments as they come due. In particular, as a premiumpayment comes due, the participant may pay the issuer the payment or aportion thereof, for example, with system 100 reimbursing theparticipant, such as by transferring funds to an account of theparticipant. As another example and/or in addition, system 100 maydirectly pay the issuer the fee or a portion thereof based on, forexample, authorization from the participant. In either or both cases,for example, assuming system 100/an owner thereof, for example, is torecoup the paid premium payment(s), the seller participant may alsoenter into one or more agreements (such as those discussed above) withsystem 100/an owner thereof regarding how system 100 may be repaid thepremium payment(s) including for example, who may be responsible forrepaying the premium payment(s), what amount of the premium payment(s)must be repaid, how the premium payment(s) will be repaid, whether thereis a service fee(s), for example, in connection with system 100 havingpaid the premium payment(s), etc. With respect to the service fee,again, such a fee may be a straight/flat fee and/or may be a time basedinterest fee that is computed over the period of time from when eachpremium payment is made on behalf of the seller participant andsubsequently repaid, for example. One skilled in the art will recognizethat other fee structures are possible. Alternatively, no service feemay be assessed. As to the type and/or amount of a service fee, this maybe predetermined, for example, by system 100/an administrator thereof.Alternatively, the seller participant may be given an option as to thetype of service fee and/or may be able to negotiate the amount of thefee.

Again, server 104 may make available to a participant, such as a buyerparticipant, that requests to view information on a policy any of i)that system 100 has paid at least in part one or more premium payments,ii) the amount system 100 has paid as of the time the participant isviewing the policy, for example, iii) whether the amount paid is to berepaid, iv) whether there is service fee associated with repayment, v)who is to repay the premium payments and/or service fee, etc.

Again, system 100 may recoup the premium payments/service fee in similarfashions as discussed above.

Buyer Participant Covered Premium Payments

According to another embodiment of the invention, a seller participantmay pay each of the premium payments that may come due while a policy isfor sale including, for example, while the policy is in, for example,the pending, active, and/or closed states and prior to, for example, aclosing on the sale of the policy. However, server 104, for example, maytrack each payment made and once a buyer participant/winning bid, forexample, is determined for the policy, add at least a portion of thepremiums paid to the winning bid amount. In this fashion, the buyerparticipant may pay the seller participant, at least in part, for thepremium payments made while the policy is in the pending, active, and/orclosed states.

As an example, a seller participant, as part of making an indication toserver 104 to a sell a policy, for example, may query (make a requestto) server 104 via workstation 101, such as via graphicalinterface/provided option, for this option. The seller participant mayalso indicate for example, whether all or a portion of the premiumpayments paid should be transferred to the buyer, the number of paymentsthat should be transferred, whether only payments made during certainstates (e.g., the active state) should be transferred, etc.

Again, server 104 may make available to a participant, such as a buyerparticipant, that requests to view information on the policy that theseller participant has placed this restriction/option upon the policy.

Guidelines for Interpreting the Present Application Terms

The term “herein” means “in the present application, including anythingwhich may be incorporated by reference”, unless expressly specifiedotherwise.

The term “product” means any machine, manufacture and/or composition ofmatter, unless expressly specified otherwise.

The term “process” means any process, algorithm, method or the like,unless expressly specified otherwise.

Each process (whether called a method, algorithm or otherwise)inherently includes one or more steps, and therefore all references to a“step” or “steps” of a process have an inherent antecedent basis in themere recitation of the term ‘process’ or a like term. Accordingly, anyreference in a claim to a ‘step’ or ‘steps’ of a process has sufficientantecedent basis.

The terms “including”, “comprising” and variations thereof mean“including but not limited to”, unless expressly specified otherwise.

The term “plurality” means “two or more”, unless expressly specifiedotherwise.

The terms “a”, “an” and “the” mean “one or more”, unless expresslyspecified otherwise.

The phrase “at least one of” when such phrase modifies a plurality ofthings (such as an enumerated list of things), means any combination ofone or more of those things, unless expressly specified otherwise. Forexample, the phrase “at least one of a widget, a car and a wheel” meanseither (i) a widget, (ii) a car, (iii) a wheel, (iv) a widget and a car,(v) a widget and a wheel, (vi) a car and a wheel, or (vii) a widget, acar and a wheel. The phrase “at least one of”, when such phrase modifiesa plurality of things, does not mean “one of each of” the plurality ofthings.

Numerical terms such as “one”, “two”, etc. when used as cardinal numbersto indicate quantity of something (e.g., one widget, two widgets), meanthe quantity indicated by that numerical term, but do not mean at leastthe quantity indicated by that numerical term. For example, the phrase“one widget” does not mean “at least one widget”, and therefore thephrase “one widget” does not cover, e.g., two widgets.

The term “represent” and like terms are not exclusive, unless expresslyspecified otherwise. For example, the term “represents” do not mean“represents only”, unless expressly specified otherwise. In other words,the phrase “the data represents a credit card number” describes both“the data represents only a credit card number” and “the data representsa credit card number and the data also represents something else”.

The phrase “based on” does not mean “based only on”, unless expresslyspecified otherwise. In other words, the phrase “based on” describesboth “based only on” and “based at least on”. The phrase “based at leaston” is equivalent to the phrase “based at least in part on”.

The term “whereby” is used herein only to precede a clause or other setof words that express only the intended result, objective or consequenceof something that is previously and explicitly recited. Thus, when theterm “whereby” is used in a claim, the clause or other words that theterm “whereby” modifies do not establish specific further limitations ofthe claim or otherwise restricts the meaning or scope of the claim.

The term “i.e.” and like terms mean “that is”, and thus limits the termor phrase it explains. For example, in the sentence “the computer sendsdata (i.e., instructions) over the Internet”, the term “i.e.” explainsthat “instructions” are the “data” that the computer sends over theInternet.

The term “e.g.” and like terms mean “for example”, and thus does notlimit the term or phrase it explains. For example, in the sentence “thecomputer sends data (e.g., instructions, a data structure) over theInternet”, the term “e.g.” explains that “instructions” are an exampleof “data” that the computer may send over the Internet, and alsoexplains that “a data structure” is an example of “data” that thecomputer may send over the Internet. However, both “instructions” and “adata structure” are merely examples of “data”, and other things besides“instructions” and “a data structure” can be “data”.

The term “respective” and like terms mean “taken individually”. Thus iftwo or more things have “respective” characteristics, then each suchthing has its own characteristic, and these characteristics can bedifferent from each other but need not be. For example, the phrase “eachof two machines has a respective function” means that the first suchmachine has a function and the second such machine has a function aswell. The function of the first machine may or may not be the same asthe function of the second machine.

Any given numerical range shall include whole and fractions of numberswithin the range. For example, the range “1 to 10” shall be interpretedto specifically include whole numbers between 1 and 10 (e.g., 1, 2, 3,4, . . . 9) and non-whole numbers (e.g., 1.1, 1.2, . . . 1.9).

Where two or more terms or phrases are synonymous (e.g., because of anexplicit statement that the terms or phrases are synonymous), instancesof one such term/phrase does not mean instances of another suchterm/phrase must have a different meaning. For example, where astatement renders the meaning of “including” to be synonymous with“including but not limited to”, the mere usage of the phrase “includingbut not limited to” does not mean that the term “including” meanssomething other than “including but not limited to”.

The term “invention” and the like mean “the one or more inventionsdisclosed in this application”, unless expressly specified otherwise.

The terms “an embodiment”, “embodiment”, “embodiments”, “theembodiment”, “the embodiments”, “one or more embodiments”, “someembodiments”, “certain embodiments”, “one embodiment”, “anotherembodiment” and the like mean “one or more (but not all) embodiments ofthe disclosed invention(s)”, unless expressly specified otherwise.

The term “variation” of an invention means an embodiment of theinvention, unless expressly specified otherwise.

A reference to “another embodiment” in describing an embodiment does notimply that the referenced embodiment is mutually exclusive with anotherembodiment (e.g., an embodiment described before the referencedembodiment), unless expressly specified otherwise.

Determining

The term “determining” and grammatical variants thereof (e.g., todetermine a price, determining a value, determine an object which meetsa certain criterion) is used in an extremely broad sense. The term“determining” encompasses a wide variety of actions and therefore“determining” can include calculating, computing, processing, deriving,investigating, looking up (e.g., looking up in a table, a database oranother data structure), ascertaining and the like. Also, “determining”can include receiving (e.g., receiving information), accessing (e.g.,accessing data in a memory) and the like. Also, “determining” caninclude resolving, selecting, choosing, establishing, and the like.

The term “determining” does not imply certainty or absolute precision,and therefore “determining” can include estimating, extrapolating,predicting, guessing and the like.

The term “determining” does not imply that mathematical processing mustbe performed, and does not imply that numerical methods must be used,and does not imply that an algorithm or process is used.

The term “determining” does not imply that any particular device must beused. For example, a computer need not necessarily perform thedetermining

Forms of Sentences

Where a limitation of a first claim would cover one of a feature as wellas more than one of a feature (e.g., a limitation such as “at least onewidget” covers one widget as well as more than one widget), and where ina second claim that depends on the first claim, the second claim uses adefinite article “the” to refer to the limitation (e.g., “the widget”),this does not imply that the first claim covers only one of the feature,and this does not imply that the second claim covers only one of thefeature (e.g., “the widget” can cover both one widget and more than onewidget).

When an ordinal number (such as “first”, “second”, “third” and so on) isused as an adjective before a term, that ordinal number is used (unlessexpressly specified otherwise) merely to indicate a particular feature,such as to distinguish that particular feature from another feature thatis described by the same term or by a similar term. For example, a“first widget” may be so named merely to distinguish it from, e.g., a“second widget”. Thus, the mere usage of the ordinal numbers “first” and“second” before the term “widget” does not indicate any otherrelationship between the two widgets, and likewise does not indicate anyother characteristics of either or both widgets. For example, the mereusage of the ordinal numbers “first” and “second” before the term“widget” (1) does not indicate that either widget comes before or afterany other in order or location; (2) does not indicate that either widgetoccurs or acts before or after any other in time; and (3) does notindicate that either widget ranks above or below any other, as inimportance or quality. In addition, the mere usage of ordinal numbersdoes not define a numerical limit to the features identified with theordinal numbers. For example, the mere usage of the ordinal numbers“first” and “second” before the term “widget” does not indicate thatthere must be no more than two widgets.

When a single device or article is described herein, more than onedevice/article (whether or not they cooperate) may alternatively be usedin place of the single device/article that is described. Accordingly,the functionality that is described as being possessed by a device mayalternatively be possessed by more than one device/article (whether ornot they cooperate).

Similarly, where more than one device or article is described herein(whether or not they cooperate), a single device/article mayalternatively be used in place of the more than one device or articlethat is described. For example, a plurality of computer-based devicesmay be substituted with a single computer-based device. Accordingly, thevarious functionality that is described as being possessed by more thanone device or article may alternatively be possessed by a singledevice/article.

The functionality and/or the features of a single device that isdescribed may be alternatively embodied by one or more other deviceswhich are described but are not explicitly described as having suchfunctionality/features. Thus, other embodiments need not include thedescribed device itself, but rather can include the one or more otherdevices which would, in those other embodiments, have suchfunctionality/features.

Indication

The term “indication” is used in an extremely broad sense. The term“indication” may, among other things, encompass a sign, symptom, ortoken of something else.

The term “indication” may be used to refer to any indicia and/or otherinformation indicative of or associated with a subject, item, entity,and/or other object and/or idea.

As used herein, the phrases “information indicative of” and “indicia”may be used to refer to any information that represents, describes,and/or is otherwise associated with a related entity, subject, orobject.

Indicia of information may include, for example, a code, a reference, alink, a signal, an identifier, and/or any combination thereof and/or anyother informative representation associated with the information.

In some embodiments, indicia of information (or indicative of theinformation) may be or include the information itself and/or any portionor component of the information. In some embodiments, an indication mayinclude a request, a solicitation, a broadcast, and/or any other form ofinformation gathering and/or dissemination.

Disclosed Examples and Terminology are not Limiting

Neither the Title (set forth at the beginning of the first page of thepresent application) nor the Abstract (set forth at the end of thepresent application) is to be taken as limiting in any way as the scopeof the disclosed invention(s). An Abstract has been included in thisapplication merely because an Abstract of not more than 150 words isrequired under 37 C.F.R. §1.72(b).

The title of the present application and headings of sections providedin the present application are for convenience only, and are not to betaken as limiting the disclosure in any way.

Numerous embodiments are described in the present application, and arepresented for illustrative purposes only. The described embodiments arenot, and are not intended to be, limiting in any sense. The presentlydisclosed invention(s) are widely applicable to numerous embodiments, asis readily apparent from the disclosure. One of ordinary skill in theart will recognize that the disclosed invention(s) may be practiced withvarious modifications and alterations, such as structural, logical,software, and electrical modifications. Although particular features ofthe disclosed invention(s) may be described with reference to one ormore particular embodiments and/or drawings, it should be understoodthat such features are not limited to usage in the one or moreparticular embodiments or drawings with reference to which they aredescribed, unless expressly specified otherwise.

No embodiment of method steps or product elements described in thepresent application constitutes the invention claimed herein, or isessential to the invention claimed herein, or is coextensive with theinvention claimed herein, except where it is either expressly stated tobe so in this specification or expressly recited in a claim.

All words in every claim have the broadest scope of meaning they wouldhave been given by a person of ordinary skill in the art as of thepriority date. No term used in any claim is specially defined or limitedby this application except where expressly so stated either in thisspecification or in a claim.

The preambles of the claims that follow recite purposes, benefits andpossible uses of the claimed invention only and do not limit the claimedinvention.

The present disclosure is not a literal description of all embodimentsof the invention(s). Also, the present disclosure is not a listing offeatures of the invention(s) which must be present in all embodiments.

Devices that are described as in communication with each other need notbe in continuous communication with each other, unless expresslyspecified otherwise. On the contrary, such devices need only transmit toeach other as necessary or desirable, and may actually refrain fromexchanging data most of the time. For example, a machine incommunication with another machine via the Internet may not transmitdata to the other machine for long period of time (e.g., weeks at atime). In addition, devices that are in communication with each othermay communicate directly or indirectly through one or moreintermediaries.

A description of an embodiment with several components or features doesnot imply that all or even any of such components/features are required.On the contrary, a variety of optional components are described toillustrate the wide variety of possible embodiments of the presentinvention(s). Unless otherwise specified explicitly, nocomponent/feature is essential or required.

Although process steps, algorithms or the like may be described in aparticular sequential order, such processes may be configured to work indifferent orders. In other words, any sequence or order of steps thatmay be explicitly described does not necessarily indicate a requirementthat the steps be performed in that order. The steps of processesdescribed herein may be performed in any order practical. Further, somesteps may be performed simultaneously despite being described or impliedas occurring non-simultaneously (e.g., because one step is describedafter the other step). Moreover, the illustration of a process by itsdepiction in a drawing does not imply that the illustrated process isexclusive of other variations and modifications thereto, does not implythat the illustrated process or any of its steps are necessary to theinvention(s), and does not imply that the illustrated process ispreferred.

Although a process may be described as including a plurality of steps,that does not imply that all or any of the steps are preferred,essential or required. Various other embodiments within the scope of thedescribed invention(s) include other processes that omit some or all ofthe described steps. Unless otherwise specified explicitly, no step isessential or required.

Although a process may be described singly or without reference to otherproducts or methods, in an embodiment the process may interact withother products or methods. For example, such interaction may includelinking one business model to another business model. Such interactionmay be provided to enhance the flexibility or desirability of theprocess.

Although a product may be described as including a plurality ofcomponents, aspects, qualities, characteristics and/or features, thatdoes not indicate that any or all of the plurality are preferred,essential or required. Various other embodiments within the scope of thedescribed invention(s) include other products that omit some or all ofthe described plurality.

An enumerated list of items (which may or may not be numbered) does notimply that any or all of the items are mutually exclusive, unlessexpressly specified otherwise. Likewise, an enumerated list of items(which may or may not be numbered) does not imply that any or all of theitems are comprehensive of any category, unless expressly specifiedotherwise. For example, the enumerated list “a computer, a laptop, aPDA” does not imply that any or all of the three items of that list aremutually exclusive and does not imply that any or all of the three itemsof that list are comprehensive of any category.

An enumerated list of items (which may or may not be numbered) does notimply that any or all of the items are equivalent to each other orreadily substituted for each other.

All embodiments are illustrative, and do not imply that the invention orany embodiments were made or performed, as the case may be.

Computing

It will be readily apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art that thevarious processes described herein may be implemented by, e.g.,appropriately programmed general purpose computers, special purposecomputers and computing devices. Typically a processor (e.g., one ormore microprocessors, one or more microcontrollers, one or more digitalsignal processors) will receive instructions (e.g., from a memory orlike device), and execute those instructions, thereby performing one ormore processes defined by those instructions.

A “processor” means one or more microprocessors, central processingunits (CPUs), computing devices, microcontrollers, digital signalprocessors, or like devices or any combination thereof.

Thus a description of a process is likewise a description of anapparatus for performing the process. The apparatus that performs theprocess can include, e.g., a processor and those input devices andoutput devices that are appropriate to perform the process.

Further, programs that implement such methods (as well as other types ofdata) may be stored and transmitted using a variety of media (e.g.,computer readable media) in a number of manners. In some embodiments,hard-wired circuitry or custom hardware may be used in place of, or incombination with, some or all of the software instructions that canimplement the processes of various embodiments. Thus, variouscombinations of hardware and software may be used instead of softwareonly.

The term “computer-readable medium” refers to any medium, a plurality ofthe same, or a combination of different media, that participate inproviding data (e.g., instructions, data structures) which may be readby a computer, a processor or a like device. Such a medium may take manyforms, including but not limited to, non-volatile media, volatile media,and transmission media. Non-volatile media include, for example, opticalor magnetic disks and other persistent memory. Volatile media includedynamic random access memory (DRAM), which typically constitutes themain memory. Transmission media include coaxial cables, copper wire andfiber optics, including the wires that comprise a system bus coupled tothe processor. Transmission media may include or convey acoustic waves,light waves and electromagnetic emissions, such as those generatedduring radio frequency (RF) and infrared (IR) data communications.Common forms of computer-readable media include, for example, a floppydisk, a flexible disk, hard disk, magnetic tape, any other magneticmedium, a CD-ROM, DVD, any other optical medium, punch cards, papertape, any other physical medium with patterns of holes, a RAM, a PROM,an EPROM, a FLASH-EEPROM, any other memory chip or cartridge, a carrierwave as described hereinafter, or any other medium from which a computercan read.

Various forms of computer readable media may be involved in carryingdata (e.g. sequences of instructions) to a processor. For example, datamay be (i) delivered from RAM to a processor; (ii) carried over awireless transmission medium; (iii) formatted and/or transmittedaccording to numerous formats, standards or protocols, such as Ethernet(or IEEE 802.3), SAP, ATP, Bluetooth™, and TCP/IP, TDMA, CDMA, and 3G;and/or (iv) encrypted to ensure privacy or prevent fraud in any of avariety of ways well known in the art.

Thus a description of a process is likewise a description of acomputer-readable medium storing a program for performing the process.The computer-readable medium can store (in any appropriate format) thoseprogram elements which are appropriate to perform the method.

Just as the description of various steps in a process does not indicatethat all the described steps are required, embodiments of an apparatusinclude a computer/computing device operable to perform some (but notnecessarily all) of the described process.

Likewise, just as the description of various steps in a process does notindicate that all the described steps are required, embodiments of acomputer-readable medium storing a program or data structure include acomputer-readable medium storing a program that, when executed, cancause a processor to perform some (but not necessarily all) of thedescribed process.

Where databases are described, it will be understood by one of ordinaryskill in the art that (i) alternative database structures to thosedescribed may be readily employed, and (ii) other memory structuresbesides databases may be readily employed. Any illustrations ordescriptions of any sample databases presented herein are illustrativearrangements for stored representations of information. Any number ofother arrangements may be employed besides those suggested by, e.g.,tables illustrated in drawings or elsewhere. Similarly, any illustratedentries of the databases represent exemplary information only; one ofordinary skill in the art will understand that the number and content ofthe entries can be different from those described herein. Further,despite any depiction of the databases as tables, other formats(including relational databases, object-based models and/or distributeddatabases) could be used to store and manipulate the data typesdescribed herein. Likewise, object methods or behaviors of a databasecan be used to implement various processes, such as the describedherein. In addition, the databases may, in a known manner, be storedlocally or remotely from a device which accesses data in such adatabase.

Various embodiments can be configured to work in a network environmentincluding a computer that is in communication (e.g., via acommunications network) with one or more devices. The computer maycommunicate with the devices directly or indirectly, via any wired orwireless medium (e.g. the Internet, LAN, WAN or Ethernet, Token Ring, atelephone line, a cable line, a radio channel, an optical communicationsline, commercial on-line service providers, bulletin board systems, asatellite communications link, a combination of any of the above). Eachof the devices may themselves comprise computers or other computingdevices, such as those based on the Intel® Pentium® or Centrino™processor, that are adapted to communicate with the computer. Any numberand type of devices may be in communication with the computer.

In an embodiment, a server computer or centralized authority may not benecessary or desirable. For example, the present invention may, in anembodiment, be practiced on one or more devices without a centralauthority. In such an embodiment, any functions described herein asperformed by the server computer or data described as stored on theserver computer may instead be performed by or stored on one or moresuch devices.

Where a process is described, in an embodiment the process may operatewithout any user intervention. In another embodiment, the processincludes some human intervention (e.g., a step is performed by or withthe assistance of a human).

35 U.S.C. §112, Paragraph 6

In a claim, a limitation of the claim which includes the phrase “meansfor” or the phrase “step for” means that 35 U.S.C. §112, paragraph 6,applies to that limitation.

In a claim, a limitation of the claim which does not include the phrase“means for” or the phrase “step for” means that 35 U.S.C. §112,paragraph 6 does not apply to that limitation, regardless of whetherthat limitation recites a function without recitation of structure,material or acts for performing that function. For example, in a claim,the mere use of the phrase “step of” or the phrase “steps of” inreferring to one or more steps of the claim or of another claim does notmean that 35 U.S.C. §112, paragraph 6, applies to that step(s).

With respect to a means or a step for performing a specified function inaccordance with 35 U.S.C. §112, paragraph 6, the correspondingstructure, material or acts described in the specification, andequivalents thereof, may perform additional functions as well as thespecified function.

Computers, processors, computing devices and like products arestructures that can perform a wide variety of functions. Such productscan be operable to perform a specified function by executing one or moreprograms, such as a program stored in a memory device of that product orin a memory device which that product accesses. Unless expresslyspecified otherwise, such a program need not be based on any particularalgorithm, such as any particular algorithm that might be disclosed inthe present application. It is well known to one of ordinary skill inthe art that a specified function may be implemented via differentalgorithms, and any of a number of different algorithms would be a meredesign choice for carrying out the specified function.

Therefore, with respect to a means or a step for performing a specifiedfunction in accordance with 35 U.S.C. §112, paragraph 6, structurecorresponding to a specified function includes any product programmed toperform the specified function. Such structure includes programmedproducts which perform the function, regardless of whether such productis programmed with (i) a disclosed algorithm for performing thefunction, (ii) an algorithm that is similar to a disclosed algorithm, or(iii) a different algorithm for performing the function.

Disclaimer

Numerous references to a particular embodiment does not indicate adisclaimer or disavowal of additional, different embodiments, andsimilarly references to the description of embodiments which all includea particular feature does not indicate a disclaimer or disavowal ofembodiments which do not include that particular feature. A cleardisclaimer or disavowal in the present application shall be prefaced bythe phrase “does not include” or by the phrase “cannot perform”.

Continuing Applications

The present disclosure provides, to one of ordinary skill in the art, anenabling description of several embodiments and/or inventions. Some ofthese embodiments and/or inventions may not be claimed in the presentapplication, but may nevertheless be claimed in one or more continuingapplications that claim the benefit of priority of the presentapplication. Applicant intends to file additional applications to pursuepatents for subject matter that has been disclosed and enabled but notclaimed in the present application.

Incorporation By Reference

Any patent, patent application or other document referred to herein isincorporated by reference into this patent application as part of thepresent disclosure, but only for purposes of written description inaccordance with 35 U.S.C. §112, paragraph 1 and enablement in accordancewith 35 U.S.C. §112, paragraph 1, and should in no way be used to limit,define, or otherwise construe any term of the present application wherethe present application, without such incorporation by reference, wouldnot have failed to provide an ascertainable meaning, but rather wouldhave allowed an ascertainable meaning for such term to be provided.Thus, the person of ordinary skill in the art need not have been in anyway limited by any embodiments provided in the reference.

Any incorporation by reference does not, in and of itself, imply anyendorsement of, ratification of or acquiescence in any statements,opinions, arguments or characterizations contained in any incorporatedpatent, patent application or other document, unless explicitlyspecified otherwise in this patent application.

Prosecution History

In interpreting the present application (which includes the claims), oneof ordinary skill in the art shall refer to the prosecution history ofthe present application, but not to the prosecution history of any otherpatent or patent application, regardless of whether there are otherpatent applications that are considered related to the presentapplication.

Although the present invention has been described in relation toparticular embodiments thereof, many other variations and modificationsand other uses will become apparent to those skilled in the art. It ispreferred, therefore, that the present invention be limited not by thespecific disclosure herein, but only by the appended claims.

1. An apparatus comprising at least one computing device havinginstructions associated therewith that when executed by the at least onecomputing device make the at least one computing device operable to:receive from a participant a request to obtain information on insurancepolicies that match at least one criteria; forward the request to aserver; receive from the server information on at least one insurancepolicy that matched the at least one criteria, in which the informationon the at least one insurance policy includes: first information, andsecond information; compare the second information on the at least oneinsurance policy to at least one predefined characteristic; determinethat there is a match between the second information and the at leastone predefined characteristic; based at least in part on determiningthat there is the match between the second information and the at leastone predefined characteristic, filter-out the at least one insurancepolicy such that the information on the at least one insurance policy isnot provided to the participant; determine that there is not a matchbetween the second information and the at least one predefinedcharacteristic; and based at least in part on determining that there isnot the match between the second information and the at least onepredefined characteristic, provide the first information but not thesecond information on the at least one insurance policy to theparticipant.
 2. The apparatus of claim 1, in which the request comprisesa search request to obtain, from a plurality of insurance policies,information on those insurance policies that match the at least onecriteria.
 3. The apparatus of claim 1, in which the request and the atleast one criteria comprise a request to obtain, from a plurality ofinsurance policies, information on those insurance policies for whichbids to purchase the policies may be made by the participant.
 4. Theapparatus of claim 1, in which the at least one criteria comprises aspecified insurance policy; and in which the request comprise a requestto obtain, from a plurality of insurance policies, information oninsurance policies that are related to the specified insurance policy.5. The apparatus of claim 1, in which the at least one predefinedcharacteristic is specified by the participant.
 6. The apparatus ofclaim 5, in which the instructions, that when executed by the at leastone computing device make the at least one computing device furtheroperable to obtain the at least one predefined characteristic from adatabase.
 7. The apparatus of claim 1, in the server comprises a systemfor auctioning insurance policies.
 8. The apparatus of claim 1, in whichthe request comprises the at least one predefined characteristic.
 9. Theapparatus of claim 8, in which to forward the request to the servercomprises to forward the request to the server without forwarding the atleast one predefined characteristic to the server.
 10. The apparatus ofclaim 1, in which the at least one predefined characteristic comprisesan identity of a possible insured; and in which to determine that thereis the match between the second information and the at least onepredefined characteristic comprises to determine that an insured of theat least one insurance policy matches the identity of the possibleinsured.
 11. The apparatus of claim 1, in which the at least onepredefined characteristic comprises an identity of a possible owner ofinsurance policies; and in which to determine that there is a matchbetween the second information and the at least one predefinedcharacteristic comprises to determine that an owner of the at least oneinsurance policy matches the identity of the possible owner of insurancepolicies.
 12. The apparatus of claim 1, in which the at least onepredefined characteristic comprises an identity of an individual; and inwhich to determine that there is a match between the second informationand the at least one predefined characteristic comprises to determinethat an insured of the at least one insurance policy is related to theindividual.
 13. The apparatus of claim 1, in which the first informationcomprises information accessible to the participant even though theparticipant may not own the at least one insurance policy; and in whichthe second information comprises information not accessible to theparticipant unless the participant owns the at least one insurancepolicy.
 14. The apparatus of claim 13, in which the second informationcomprises an identity of at least one insured of the at least oneinsurance policy.
 15. The apparatus of claim 13, in which the secondinformation comprises an identity of at least one owner of the at leastone insurance policy.
 16. The apparatus of claim 1, in which differententities own the server and the at least one computing device.
 17. Anapparatus comprising at least one computing device having instructionsassociated therewith that when executed by the at least one computingdevice make the at least one computing device operable to: receive froma server information on at least one insurance policy, in which theinformation on the at least one insurance policy includes: firstinformation, and second information; compare the second information onthe at least one insurance policy to at least one predefinedcharacteristic; determine that there is a match between the secondinformation and the at least one predefined characteristic; based atleast in part on determining that there is the match between the secondinformation and the at least one predefined characteristic, filter-outthe at least one insurance policy such that the information on the atleast one insurance policy is not communicated to a workstation in useby a participant; determine that there is not a match between the secondinformation and the at least one predefined characteristic; and based atleast in part on determining that there is not the match between thesecond information and the at least one predefined characteristic,communicate the first information but not the second information on theat least one insurance policy to the workstation.
 18. The apparatus ofclaim 17, in which the at least one predefined characteristic comprisesan identity of a possible insured; and in which to determine that thereis the match between the second information and the at least onepredefined characteristic comprises to determine that an insured of theat least one insurance policy matches the identity of the possibleinsured.
 19. The apparatus of claim 17, in which the first informationcomprises information accessible to the participant even though theparticipant may not own the at least one insurance policy; and in whichthe second information comprises information not accessible to theparticipant unless the participant owns the at least one insurancepolicy.
 20. The apparatus of claim 17, in the server comprises a systemfor auctioning insurance policies; and in which different entities ownthe server and the at least one computing device.
 21. A methodcomprising: receiving from a participant a request to obtain informationon insurance policies that match at least one criteria; forwarding therequest to a server; receiving from the server information on at leastone insurance policy that matched the at least one criteria, in whichthe information on the at least one insurance policy includes: firstinformation, and second information; comparing the second information onthe at least one insurance policy to at least one predefinedcharacteristic; determining that there is a match between the secondinformation and the at least one predefined characteristic; and based atleast in part on determining that there is the match between the secondinformation and the at least one predefined characteristic,filtering-out the at least one insurance policy such that theinformation on the at least one insurance policy is not provided to theparticipant.
 22. The method of claim 21, in which the at least onepredefined characteristic comprises an identity a possible insured; andin which determining that there is the match between the secondinformation and the at least one predefined characteristic comprisesdetermining that an insured of the at least one insurance policy matchesthe identity of the possible insured.